


Stratospheric

by MaybeInAutumn



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gen, Hiccup is disowned, Hiccup runs away, Identity Reveal, Mystery, Protective Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Protective Toothless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2018-08-15 04:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 84,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8042599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeInAutumn/pseuds/MaybeInAutumn
Summary: “Stop. Don’t raise your hand, Stoick.” The boy that descended from nowhere turned around and looked Stoick dead in the eye. Stoick was spellbound. He could not summon any strength to move or speak. All he could see was the pair of forest green eyes that captured his whole field of vision. When the boy turned back around abruptly to face Furlan, Stoick stumbled as his world bled into clarity again.Those eyes…





	1. Hiccup Returns to Barbaric Archipelago

The night was clear and awfully silent, until it was disrupted by loud and forceful wingbeats, descending from the Southern skies. A beat later, a lean and built man clad in a tightfitting black leather suit and metal helmet hopped down from what was identified as a majestic dragon with covering of the night. The dragon and the man appeared to be two halves of the same whole, both concealed in darkness, moved in agile tandem, carried with them an air of danger and ferociousness, and above all, both crippled: the dragon missing half of its tailfin, and the man, his left leg from below the knee was replaced by metal-boned prosthetics. However, they moved silently through the night as shadows, whether above the clouds, or under the cover of the dense forest.

Wordlessly, the man strayed from his beast, trekking along the sides of the forest, and his companion paid no mind, as if this was a ritual, perhaps it was. The dragon concentrated on sensing his surroundings, stilling, sniffing and his earplates spun to face different directions. He crawled through the forest floor undetectable like a snake, right to the center of the woods, before circling the grounds and making a detour back to their landing spot. _No humans, no dragons. Good._

After returning to the grassy clearing atop a hill, where they touched down, the dragon began a series of actions, strangely resembling how humans would settle down at a new camp spot. He fetched water from a nearby spring he discovered while scouting, with a copper container strapped to his leg and gathered thin branches, only he had no trouble lighting up the campfire - he fired at it.

“There you are bud! I checked the forest boundary and coastline along the South. The island is completely empty, except for that village we saw in the sky on the other side of the island. We're good.” The man set to untie the basket and satchels on the dragon's - Toothless' body, along with the heavy saddle. Tired from a whole day of flying, the dragon can only tumble around to stretch his sore muscles, grunting out his displeasure and joy of being freed. _Finally!_

“Yeah yeah grumpy. I'll scratch you later alright? Business first.” From under his outer suit in front of his chest, the nameless man pulled out a worn-out leather-bound book, and set it on the ground, before opening it and revealing an incredibly extensive and detailed expandable map. The map appears to capture a world far beyond the archipelago, reaching to the lands of the South where completely different and extravagant civilisations lay. Could he have travelled that far? Attached to the edges of the map are smaller pieces of parchment with detailed illustrations of different regions and landmarks, all able to be folded and reduced, and safely tucked into that 'notebook' of his. 

The man scanned the numerous coloured symbols on the map, before pointing out, “Great, we're finally in the Barbaric Archipelago. We took an awfully long time to get back, didn't we bud?”

_You wanted to visit that mental man and his volcano, then you went to see Leneah, and you turned back South because you wanted more grapes, and you…_

“Okay maybe I got a little distrac-“

_A little?_

“For a dragon that cannot speak you are awfully good at complaining.”

_Well, we are who we talk to._

“Hey! You say I'm a bad influence...I say I'm a good time.”

_We had a great time being hunted by 2 of the most dangerous groups of people you mean?_

“That was not my fault, they are just easily-offended. Who knew crashing their wedding was such a bad idea?” The man's giggles turned dark, “They had it coming.”

**_Crashing of the wedding, or wiping out one-quarter of their people?_ **

“Anyway, from the looks of it, we are here, on one of the small islands West of Hysteria. No wonder no one else lives on these islands. The Wrath of Thor made this place completely inaccessible from the rest of the archipelago, except for the Bog Burglurs.” The man traced the map with the bone of a writing instrument he called a pencil. “We are no more than two hours away from Visithug by the high-altitude wind system. We'll rest here for tomorrow and head North to the Visithug Territories at nightfall. What do ya say?”

 _I'm not going anywhere without a basketful of fishes down my throat and your fingers scratching my back, that's for sure._ Toothless announced with mischief, certain that Hiccup would comply with his request no matter how tired he is.

“Urghhh, fine.” The man hopped onto the dragon's back and started scratching, muttering under his breath in a false voice. “Be kind and let the dragon live, Hiccup. He's probably gentle and friendly and will be an obedient pet, and not end up using you as his personal masseur.”

Hiccup hid his warm smile. **Why keep a dragon, though, if not to spoil it? Anything you say, Toothless. Anything for you.**

The silence of the hill was no more, drowned out by the rhythmic and thunderous purring of offspring of lightning and death.


	2. The Way To Visithug

“Urgh! God Toothless! You know that dosen't wash out!”

The voices came from a tall young boy with auburn locks. His body was lean and well-muscled, strong in areas not typical with others from years of dragon riding. Maneuvering on dragon-back heavily exerts very different groups of muscles, and even the toughest and strongest viking would get cramps and sore muscles from few hours of dragon riding. Gone from the boy was his menacing and powerful look from yesterday's travelling, leaving behind a fair-skinned boy, with intelligent forest-green eyes and a mischievous smile long discarded by boys his age. Hiccup jumped and tackled Toothless into the shallow spring, forcing a squeak out of the nightfury's mouth. “Ha! How do you like that? I have defeated this mighty beast-” Hiccup waved his arms, teasingly proud before being sprayed in his face. Toothless sneered from the center of the spring.

The pals played without a care in the world, like they did not carry the future of vikings and dragons on their backs.

Under the midday sun, the nightfury's obsidian scales glowed florescent, sparkling and reflecting off shades not belonging to the night sky, but rather luminescent aurora beams. The sinister man and deadly companion from the night before seemed to soundlessly dissolve into a carefree young lad and his playful best friend.

After the bath, Hiccup rode Toothless high into the sky. They tumbled, they spun, they climbed, they free-falled. They soared and they sailed.

Their ritual.

The clouds in the sky were their parents, the howling of the wind was their language and the world was their playing field. The acrobatics they did were ingrained into them. They were their instinct, to tease danger and seek adventures, and the journeys they completed grew them. This was a sensation that they thrive on, more so than any other dragons, even for Hiccup. Flight was their talent, together. While other dragons fly, they sped and dove. They sought the thrill!

Hiccup had a past here, in the Barbaric Archipelago, as the heir of the Berkian Tribe, son to Stoick the Vast. Returning here evoked mixed feelings, no matter how hard he had come to terms with his past, and let his burdens down, the island of Berk still held a place in his being. He knew there was no way for him to not feel anything, being so close to Berk, breathing the viking air again. He could only celebrate the fact that he had his protector with him. Toothless always could sense when he was feeling unease, and always knew how to wash it away.

Every time he blinks, the sight before him changes, and his heart pumps faster with every breath he takes. Toothless twists and turns, somersaults and Hiccup leapt from his back. The instant he was independently airborne, his arms that attached themselves through hooks at his waist level extended - and he in flight, alongside Toothless.

“This is what it means to be a dragon!” Announced Hiccup, and Toothless warbled in complete agreement.

They spent the rest of the afternoon flying like they haven't flown for an eternity. They eventually settled down somewhere to have lunch (fishes) and flew some more, until the skies bled and Hiccup's hair were tousled and slightly burnt.

Finally, nightfall arrived. They packed up their campsite and scouted their surroundings again. They had pursuers, and while they doubt they can be tracked, leaving traces would surely cause unnecessary complications to their already difficult mission.

“Alright, let’s go bud.” With a burst of wind, they were already hundreds of metres away.

“We'll be heading North for the Visithug Territories. We need to familiarise with this archipelego before making a move and Chief Barmad can help us with catching up on everything. We'll also need new clothes. Can't have me running around in my flight suit or foreign clothes, that'll attract attention. And you bit through my last tunic just now, you good-for-nothing reptile.”

Hiccup rode toothless higher and higher until the island they camped on was no more than a rock floating in the sea, and he could almost see half of Hysteria, and the vast Sullen Sea.

They climbed vertically up, a mountain's height above the clouds where the air bites, before slightly levelling out. Toothless felt for something, and immediately sped Northwards to match a strong and fast draft that effortlessly carried them. Without any air resistance and the combined push of the current, they flew three times as fast with one-third the usual effort needed to fly without these winds. Even toothless could afford to fall asleep like this, since these winds headed for a specific direction with little obstruction to change their directions. Toothless did not have to constantly steer, they only had to catch the right draft and ride it. Better yet, as they were above the clouds, they would not have to care about storms and lightings, what their metal-based prosthetics attracted.

Not many dragons have the strength to fly this high, nor fast enough to not be knocked out of the skies when converging into the midst of these winds, nor protected from the extreme chill of this winds. Toothless however, was born for this, he could compress the burning gas within his body to achieve extreme temperatures to keep himself and Hiccup warm. That was a reason for the strength and power of his plasma blasts. Toothless settled to catch more sleep while Hiccup, wrapped up in his thick layers of flight suits admired the seas and the lands, trying to remember what he forgot about the place.

He could not see clearly due to the clouds, but it was sort of a mind game, to guess where there would be a land and what it was, then try to catch a glimpse and see if he was right. Though admittedly, he had not become that much a stranger to this place. He could definitely pinpoint islands and lands and seas and villages and tribes and clans with his eyes closed. He lived there for half his life after all, and even without flying, he studied the maps enough. He could not shake the sense of unfamiliarity to seeing it all with his own eyes again though. Sense of nostalgia and an alien feeling mixed until Hiccup was unsure of how he feels about returning here.

It wasn't fear or anger or hatred. He’d moved past that long ago, though he was never the type of person to hold a grudge in the first place. The place felt like an old memory, so familiar, yet too unnatural to live within anymore. Yes, that was it. This archipelago felt like the past, he was not unfamiliar, just not accustomed to being here anymore. He did not feel like he was Hiccup, the awkward viking boy. He had the memories, thoughts and emotions, he remembers _Hiccup_ , nothing more. At least not yet.

**Maybe I will get reacquainted to this place again.**

Hiccup smiled tenderly, and reminisced until he slept.

It was not long until he was jolted awake by turbulence of Toothless separating from the currents, to a sharp deceleration.

_You are still sleeping? That's surprising, considering you usually wake up just before we reach._

“Yeah well, I had a lot on my mind”

_This isn't doing anything bad for you, right._

Guilt assaulted Hiccup. Toothless eyed the lands below them and narrowed his eyes at the multitude of viking fire in the distances. **Odin, he must have been worried about me all this time and I didn’t notice.**

Hiccup lightly slapped Toothless on the back. “Hey, you're not the one that has to convince an archipelago full of bull-headed barbarians to accept their enemy of 300 years. Cut me some slack geez!” Hiccup teased as light-heartedly as he could manage, earning a growl from the dragon.

 **Is he pouting right now? Hhaha, adorable- There! The Mainland of Visithug.** The companions spend some time circling the lands nearby, before landing on the North-east coast of the mainland.

Visithug Territories were higher up north than Berk, and its northern mountains are covered with snow all year round. The snowy landscape was almost blinding, and barren trees half-buried under all the snow littered the valley. Hills surrounded their east, while a forest splayed in the west.

Hiccup hopped off Toothless and landed deep into the snow. It was cold and the snow was almost at his knees. He would need to add a few extra layers of protection under his stump. Not a good idea to have his stump aching and bleeding when he had actual business to attend to.

He unloaded all the baggage and went on to take off his flight suit. “Odin, if my flight suit isn't leather and reinforced with your scales, it would be frozen by now. Toss me my satchel would'ya?”

Toothless threw it in Hiccup's direction, and immediately raced into forest to look for a good camp spot. Hiccup clothed himself in his last set of viking tunic and pants, and donned a thick hooded fur coat. For someone that lived 15 years where it snowed 9 months of the year and hailed the other 3, and still falls sick every winter, he was ironically much better at enduring the cold now after travelling in the temperate and tropical region for two years. **Must be all that dragon riding. Snow is nothing compared to flying at high speed through clouds of ice crystals day and night.**

He grabbed a few arrows and _Vein of Thunder_ before trekking through the sparse forest. They started taking turns at chores after Hiccup learned to hunt, and subsequently learned to fight. It wasn’t for Hiccup to always have Toothless feed him, warm him and baby him; they were all each other had. He couldn’t burden Toothless like that. He took Toothless’ freedom and tied him down forever, the least he could do is to learn to support and defend them, just so they can avoid being slaughtered in the tough world. Besides, if Hiccup wanted to completely let go of his past shame, this was his necessary rite of passage.

 **Where’s breakfast?** Hiccup was craving for meat, especially after living on a diet of fish and nothing else for 4 days. He dodged low branches and leapt over rocks jutting out of the thick snow. The whole landscape was white, apart from the thin Birch trees and smooth rocks and occasional boulders. **Come on. Deers, foxes, rabbits, anything but all fish again.**

Hiccup stalked through the woods as quietly as he could, with the snow crunching under his feet. The morning sunlight filtered through the thickening forest, and the snowy ground glistened with moisture. Then, Hiccup heard a soft noise. **There it is.** Hiccup readied his bow and notched his arrow, and stilled, hoping to catch any noise that would be indication of where his and Toothless’ breakfast was. A nightmare's wingspan away was an adult grey rabbit, with strikes of grey and white.

Hiccup's movements were swift and instinctual, but with control, when he spun to target where the rabbit crouched. Then, he released the arrow and the meal was his.

**Next, fishing… again. Why did he have to be born with this cursed diet? I could shoot fishes with my eyes closed now, only one problem, where’s the pond?**

Hiccup managed to find a nearby pond with fish, and fished. After their meal, Hiccup saddled Toothless and weaponed himself casually. _Inferno_ here, _Vein of Thunder_ there, and two daggers in his boots, just in case. He was not worried. It was an old friend he would be visiting, not an enemy, but undeniably, he had ran into too many seemingly safe situations unprepared, only to face life-threatening dangers. It can't hurt to be prepared.

Then, he rode Toothless over the woods to find a bustling fort half the size of Berk - Coaberus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This note applies to the whole fic...  
> I wrote this last year so please forgive me if there is any continuity issues in the fic from this point on, that I can't immediately correct.  
> Because I don't remember every detail. Yeah.


	3. Reunion at Coaberus

In a small hut, an aged man sat with 8 children, all no more than 7 years old. He spoke fascinating tales one after the other, with delightful tone and enchanting gestures. He had white hair and beard, but his limbs still stiff with muscles, his eyes could not hide his strength.

“And the tale of how Coaberus prospered to the village today. All of you are too young to remember that even though we were famous for our coal supply, and most viking settlements in the region come to us for coal, that was only since three years ago. We were a deeply troubled bunch!”

“It was really difficult. Our predecessors had discovered abundant coal supply deep in the mountain hearts, but there was a huge problem. On the Southern sides of our mountains is a long wide stretch of cliffs known to the world as the Wild Dragon Cliffs. It is inhabited by deadly boulder class dragons within its tunnels and caves. They hide and breed in the mountains and lives on coal and rocks! Our ancestors have been mining from the edge of that mountain, always avoiding the cliffs, until a few years ago.”

“It was a mistake. We were greedy, and we kept digging, kept harvesting until the dragons discovered one man within their tunnels. He never came back! The dragons were furious and angry, and they started to watch their tunnels so closely! Our village thrived on trading of coal, and we were starving after two months of not being able to supply any coal. People were scared and angry, and one day, everyone armied into our mines with mining equipment and weapons together.”

“We were no fighter; we were just a mining village. The dragons could effortlessly kill us when we tried to drive them out of the tunnels. And they did, to some of us. They chased us out into the sun and started spitting lava, shooting boulders! And you know what happened?”

One of the youngest excitedly asked, “What happened? How did everyone survive? The dragons really killed people?” The child had a face of disbelief, and so did the others. They did not believe dragons to be capable of killing people.

“Yes they did.  We were hurting their home, so they had every right to fight back, don't they?” The elder explained wisely.

The little kids slowly nodded in understanding, and the village elder then continued in an awestruck voice, “Then! He appeared!”

“This sixteen year old boy riding a magnificent dragon flew to us! We thought he was a devil here to avenge the dragons, but he jumped in before the attacking dragons and protected us. It was like magic! His voice was soft and his gentle movements worked magic on the furious beasts.”

“Many dragons had calmed down but some were still attacking and one was almost upon the young boy! Then, the black dragon roared and fired at his own kind to protect his rider! Together, they drove the mountain dragons back into the cliff. It was unbelievable that a single boy could drive away a dozen dragons, and control the nightfury, but he was there! He existed before everyone’s eyes.”

“That was when we learnt that we could befriend dragons. That boy helped us. He told us how to approach dragons and understand the dragons. That is why we are so special. That was how we became the only village in the whole viking archipelago with the help and protection of dragons, though it is a secret we will never reveal, to protect our precious friends.” The man finished dramatically and smiled at the awestruck dazed looks of the village children.

They were not a huge village, even though their port was always bustling as people from everywhere came to trade for coal. However, they only accepted a handful into their community. Their dragons were their secret, and helped them mine. They knew that should they be attacked one day for their coal, which was unlikely as vikings value honour, the dragons would protect them too. They all remembered the boy from six years ago. The boy who risked his safety to defend them and gifted them the friendship of dragons. He taught them much about dragons, that they are not what vikings think they are. Death is not the only solution.

This boy was kind, eager but anxious. Dreadful of leaving and belonging nowhere, yet fearful of staying. He thought he was unworthy. So Coaberus offered him a home, where he would always be welcome. The men welcomed him to drink into the night with them, and the maiden cared for him and his dragon. The chief built him a forge and he repaired their three storage-full of bent and broken mining tools. The boy was deadly in a forge. He struck accurate accurately like he wielded the tools since he was seven. He later confessed he did. The unforgiving temperature of a furnace bothered him not.

And the day Coaberus signed a trading agreement with the sixth tribe, he left mysteriously without a word. It was Berk.

Now, dragons were their hosts in the mountains and their guide through the tunnels. They no longer worry about their livelihood, but they were ever grateful, and always humble, simple people. They will not forget.

“The elder cleared his throat and continued: 'Now, who wants to hear a story of how we survived the Great Hurrica-“. A man suddenly called into the hut, “Elder, Yostuk had returned! The chief request for your presence in his house.”

The elder’s eyes widened in joy. The children were delivered home, and he headed off to the chief’s house to meet with an old friend.

Hiccup had landed Toothless behind the chief's house, away from sight, and strolled into the village center. He had watched from the forest’s edge. Coaberus changed. Its streets were more vibrant than he remembered, but its appearance had not change. The same old houses, same old clothing, same old people! He probably blanked out when staring because Danard crept up on him without him knowing.

A crushing hug later, “Yostuk! You bastard! Where have you been? You haven't visited! We thought you were dead!”

**Still really honest people...**

“Oh me? You know, spreading disaster, bringing terror, what else?” Hiccup ginned his signature mischievous smile joyfully. Danard hadn’t changed, still the carefree, charming lad Hiccup remembered. The people of this village seemed to all share the spirit of optimism and cheer, but Hiccup knew they were an emotional bunch, Danard included. **Are those tears in his eyes?**

“Still so cheeky are ya!” Then Hiccup was tackled onto the ground by the 22 year old youth. He would never have expected that a run away from home and a heavy storm would lead him here. He knew he had to help as he approached this village in the midst of a dragon attack, so he tried his best. He had never seen boulderocks before so he could only try to calm them like he calmed the nightmare back in the ring. Toothless still ended up saving him though, and they brought peace between dragons and vikings here. He also earned a home and a brother.

“Come on, lets get you to the chief's house!” Then he was forcefully pulled along by Danard. **He grown stronger, it’d been 5 years haven’t it?**

“Odin's beard! What happened here? Coaberus is really prospering now isn't it?” Hiccup wondered aloud to Danard.

Danard lowered his voice as he eyed the foreign traders on the village center. “Yeah, the dragons helped us a lot. We still don't dare to ride 'em into da sky but we need them. Would have never imagined living with dragons till you came around! Where's your Toothless?” Danard tightened his grip on Hiccup’s wrist. ‘What on earth happened to your leg? I hadn’t noticed until we started walking. Did someone do this? What did you get yourself into?’ Danard whispered his questions, but his voice still loudened in anger.

“For Thor’s sake, calm down! Toothless is behind the chief's house. No way can I ride him into the village square, now can I? Those viking walking in and out of the village would kill me!”

“Hey, don't blame Toothless for it! You had to dress yourself up in that Hel's suit! Who wouldn't attacked a guy riding the offspring of lightning and death, wearing black leather and dragon scales, and holding a flaming sword? And what's with that bow anyway? Doesn’t look like your work. Way too flashy! And don’t bother changing the topic!”

“Yeah, yeah. All my fault. I just needed to travel in style! Who needs intimidation on their side when they charm attackers to death? I should totally get rid of my flight suit too. Not that fire or cold bother me, am I right? Flying through clouds made of ice crystals and flaming dragon breath wouldn’t do a damned thing to me.” The amount of sarcasm Hiccup just dissed out could probably poison a dozen mountain-sized vikings. Danard raised his hands in defeat, cracking an amused grin.

“And about the leg, long story.” Hiccup looked away from Danard’s eyes momentarily, a flash of pain and other emotions surfaced and faded like lightning upon stormy skies.

Hiccup slowed, “Actually I came back for a reason, and I need your help. Not just you, the chief and the elder too, and maybe the whole of Coaberus.”

Yostuk looked serious, in a solemn kind of way. That awkward and careless teenager grew into a capable and deliberate young man. Yostuk held his head high and stood tall, something he never did before he left. He was lanky then, but not entirely short, yet never had he looked so grown. Danard can’t help but notice Hiccup’s voice deepened, while the warm undertone remained.

The focus in his eyes was all the more prominent, while his gaze lingered subconsciously on unfamiliar faces. When he spoke, his voice was controlled. He walked steadily and lightly, despite his metal prosthetic and his movements were balanced. There were little frivolous gestures, and his actions were smooth and natural, characteristics of seasoned fighters.

Danard caught himself watching and quickly turned away. “Alright alright, we'll talk to them. Can't say I'm not disappointed though. You didn’t come back for us after all! Haiiii!” And a dramatic sigh to complete the effect.

 **Whack!** “Always the dramatic, cut it out, will’ya?”

Chief Barmad was a witty man that was good at what he does, trading and economics. He was big-sized, not as much as Stoick but close. He was the man that single-handedly fed a village full of people with no local agriculture, no livestock, and a limited supply of coal from the dangerous mountains. Despite his seemingly easy-going character, he was deeply respected within the village, and he taught Hiccup more about resource management and leading a village than his own father ever did.

Upon arriving, the chief welcomed him jubilantly and they drank meet and spoke of Yostuk's journey while waiting for the elder. Hiccup recounted as much as he could, sparing the gruesome details. He had little to hide here, truly. Many of this village knew of Yostuk's history, and that 'Yostuk' was a fake name. Even though Hiccup had not admitted his real identity, news of a viking heir that befriended a dragon and was exiled was not something that died down easily. The news spread far and wide. Hiccup-Yostuk recounted with as much vigor as he could muster.

“Aye, can see ya had a blast lad. Lain with any maiden yet?”

Hiccup almost fainted at the directness of the question. **As expected of Barmad! Now, I have to return the favour.**

“Aye of course! Lain with a handful at once! Had me the most amazing night of my life! Nothing better than softness of maidens in this world.”

Hiccup almost spit out his meat at Danard's eyes popping out of his socket! He barely managed to contain his laughter at the shocked looks of the occupants in the house.

“I can almost see you lying through your teeth, Hiccup.” The village elder walked into the room. “Has our chief pushed you too far?” The elder teased.

Hiccup was surprised, yes. Everyone silently understood to not speak of his past, so it was the first time someone there called him by his real name. Of course they had to know, and maybe someone would let it slip by mistake eventually, but the elder? Everyone else quietened as well, due to confusion, and at the sound of the known, but unused name.

“Greetings elder. I swear I am not lying, perhaps joking but I will eventually achieve that, will I not? You said I was charming boy last time we met!” Hiccup's comeback lightened the tension in the room.

Miyart, Barmad's left-hand man offered his seat to the elder. “Ah yes. I did, even more so now! But, I fear you have too much morals to willingly lay with few maidens at once! And that is certainly not why you are here, is it?”

Hiccup paused in contemplation. **No beating about the bush then.**

“No, it is not. I am the exiled heir of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. I need your guidance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming back to read... this chapter is a bit cringe worthy, isn't it? XD


	4. In the Six Years I've Been Away

“No, it is not. I am the exiled heir of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. I need your guidance. I want to stop this war.”

The occupants in the house stared, and stunned silence permeated the room.

“That is why I am back. Things happened over these past six years. I ran away from Berk, exiled actually, when I couldn’t convince them to accept the dragons. Who was I kidding, they were furious!” Hiccup had a faraway look, as if he returned to that previous life of his. After being back for two days, his past finally caught up to him emotionally. “I was the shame of Berk, Hiccup the Useless, then suddenly I became the top of the class in dragon training. Everyone celebrated not for me, but for Berk. The heir of Berk finally followed in his father’s footsteps. They were hopeful, and I just took that hope and trampled on it when I tried to befriend a nightmare in front of the whole village. They captured me and Toothless.”

Hiccup exhaled heavily and took a sip of his mead, before straightening out and met everyone’s eyes.

“I let slip that I knew how to get to the dragon’s nest, and when I refused to tell him, my father disowned me and ordered my exile before everyone. I had one day before the ceremony, so I busted myself and Toothless out, flew and never looked back. There wasn’t much on Berk for me to begin with.”

Hiccup gave a sad smile and went on. “Besides not killing Toothless and becoming his brother, leaving Berk could very well be the best decision I made in my life. I met all of you, made allies, mastered so many things, seen all the good and the bad in the world, suffered and I am proud of who I am. If anything, I am grateful for the experiences I had these past 6 years. I am back now though. The war between vikings and dragons never stopped, and it never will. It would go on forever until one day, vikings are wiped out. We have to put an end to this. Peace is an unattainable ideal, but war is not a necessarily evil. If there is a way to stop this, I will find it, and if there isn’t, I could only try. But, I cannot do this alone.”

Hiccup hoped he put up a good argument. He didn’t want to involve people and endanger everyone’s lives, but he was completely clueless as to what happened in the archipelago for the past 6 years. There was two parts to this war: stopping (and maybe killing) the Red Death, and convincing vikings to accept dragons, or at the very least, ignore them. He needed to understand the dynamics of every group of vikings and their relationships with each other. Hiccup looked to the elder as determined as he could. He did not know how they would take this. Hiccup would tip the balance, to suddenly reveal that dragons are not mindless creatures but enslaved. By pushing for this, he would be questioning viking honour, the very basis of the viking way of life and everything the vikings believed. Would Coaberus even want to be part of this? And risk revealing their dragons, having viking anger directed at them? Hiccup would understand if they didn’t, but Coaberus was the only place he could turn to for support.

The elder narrowed his eyes in judgement. “From what we have learnt from you, the mountain is occupied by a humongous dragon, the Red Death. How are you planning of killing it or stopping it? Do you even have a plan?”

“I do not know. I have no plan. To be honest, I have zero clues as to how to do this. I know next to nothing about the Red Death, nor what happened in this archipelago. Any plan I can come up with at this point is as good as none. Anything is possible, yet at the same time, not. But I swear on Thor’s hammer that I will try my damnest to do this. Someone taught me that if I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. I know you have more faith in me than that.” Hiccup had his fists clenched tightly, but fire burned in his eyes.

The elder only paused, then his frown changed into a warm smile, his stiff neck and squared shoulders melted into a proud and heartfelt nod. “Your task will not turn out as you expect, there will be twists and unexpected.” Then, the elder grinned knowingly, as if hinting at a childish secret. “But I'm afraid you already know that.”

**Lankthnu said the exact same thing! “Though I watched and led you to discover this journey you must undertake, I am no wiser as to how this will come about. It depends on you alone, but I can warn you, expect that there will be unaccounted possibilities. You can expect a raindrop to land directly below knowing its position in the sky, but a raindrop can appear anywhere, same applies to your journey. When dealing with what you cannot prepare for, only your wisdom and quick-thinking can help you. You have my blessings.” What’s with seers and elders anyway? Can’t they be direct for once, always speaking in fucking riddles!**

“But, you have our support.” The elder ended.

Chief Barmad slapped Hiccup’s back and almost knocked him off the wooden chair. “Aye lad! My days have been bored solid! I need’ta thank you for all this excitement.”

“You know we have your back idiot. Don’t ever doubt it.” Danard looked eager as hell too.

“Thank you elder, everyone. That is all I ask for. Sorry for doubting, I just wasn’t sure it ya’ll want to be involved.” Then he muttered under his breath. “Probably agreed to this only because they were too bored.” “Anyway, I want to know the situation in the archipelago now. What has happened while I was gone?”

Their reunion-turned-meeting continued into the night. Hiccup grabbed a plate of meat and sat down in the side of the village hall to eat. For a bustling village as this, nights were empty and silent, everyone retreating to their homes. The nights were reserved for families, or friends. Hiccup had lived here for months before, he smithed for them simple equipment and tools used for mining and transporting coal, then at night, he would sit with a bunch of the villagers around a campfire singing and chatting with mead mugs in their hands. It was amazing how Hiccup fit in so easily, even though he rode a dragon, even though he was skinny and light. He joined the villagers and was treated as equals, despite being a 16 year old among men that had been through more than he had heard. In truth, the villagers all respected him for his skill and his courage - a defenseless boy that singlehandedly stood up against numerous dragons in defense of a bunch of strangers, and even after 5 years, the villagers still treated him as one of their own.

**It's been a while hasn't it? When I first left Berk five years ago, I was only 16. I ended up here unintentionally, and these people just took me in. I knew I wouldn't stay. I needed to find myself, and Toothless belongs to the world, not on any island like how the Red Death had had him enslaved. But if I had to call a place home, it would be here.**

Hiccup drank from his mug and started eating. From what he was told, after he was exiled 5 years ago in the training ring, and he busted Toothless out and escaped before his exile ceremony, Berk had him wanted for while. He had not known that, he already left, what could they possibly want from him? Execution? Then, the dragon attacks gradually increased in frequency and strength. Only since recently, the scale of dragon attacks grew more dramatically. From twice every quarter of the year, to the current once every two weeks. **Why is she wanting more food?** **And, what allows the Red Death to control the dragons?** Toothless had no idea as well. Seems like most of the dragons under her influence had been serving her since birth or being a hatchling.

There was something very surprising that happened. After he left, the Hooklanders managed to figure out how to get to the Red Death’s nest. They wanted the honour of driving the dragons out of their nest for themselves so they tied a terror to a mast and sailed right into the mist surrounding the nest. They never came back, and those left on their island only came clean about what happened two months later. **Can’t believe someone finally managed to figure out that dragons could lead us to the nest, after taking 300 years. Though to be fair, I didn’t know until Toothless took me there against my will.**

Some had banded together to attack the nest before, but all were wiped out. Only since then have vikings stopped targeting the nest and focused all their forces with defense. There have been efforts of organising even stronger forces before, but fear meant groups kept pulling out and the whole band would reconsider their numbers.

Seems like Berk has joined for the attack forces before, but as vikings gradually lost vigor for the nest, it was harder to get vikings organised, and the attack forces dispersed before attacking more often than not. **Not surprising, who would want to take part, knowing they wouldn’t come back.** Hence, Berkians directed even more of their energy to defending the island, and capturing dragons to train. **Seems like none had been able to return alive, and the existence of the Red Death is still a mystery.**

**Berk is closest to the nest, and one of the strongest and well-populated. They should be managing fine, even though they are hardest hit by the raids. I still need to find a way and end this soon. Even the greatest man could fall before a persistent foe. I need a trip to the nest, see if I can find any clue to break its control of the dragons, and its weakness.**

Hiccup was in deep thought when a slimy tongue suddenly assaulted his neck. “AHHHHHH!!! Gross Toothless! You scared me!” Hiccup sprang up from his seat, but his prosthetic was caught on one of the chair’s foot, and he fell face-first onto the rocky ground. “Owwww.”

Toothless just rolled his eyes and held his head up, looking like he doesn’t care. That subtle pout on his face said all that’s needed to be known though.

“Awww big baby boo. Are you angry for me leaving you alone the whole day?” A grunt. **Awwww, he missed me.** “I had a lot to discuss, sorry boy! Let’s go for a ride, what do you say?”

Toothless started bounding around Hiccup and licking him, his tail waving tail whacking everything in its reach.

“Alright alright, calm down! Let’s go.”

It is almost unbelievable how the two best friends still grow closer every day, never sick of each other. They were still completely loyal to each other, Toothless treating Hiccup like he was his entire world, and Hiccup trusting Toothless with his life. They took off immediately after exiting the village hall. **Whatever makes Toothless happy.**

Besides, flying might just be what he needed to come up with new ideas.


	5. Shyt Just Got Serious

When he awoke, the afternoon sunshine stung his eyes. **Where was he?** Right, he flew with Toothless all night and totally dropped dead on a piece of grassland on Visithug. **Toothless?** **Ah! There he is.** Toothless slept lying tummy-up, with his tongue hang out of his mouth, and was he snoring?

Hiccup fell asleep lying on the inside of Toothless’ right wing, with Toothless’ right foreleg crushing his chest. **That’s a surprise.** Toothless usually liked to cuddle, and Hiccup always ended up as the cuddle toy, squashed between Toothless’ legs and wrapped up in his wings. But without Toothless’ hugs to warm him, Hiccup was freezing. “Achooo!” Toothless cracked an eye at the noise and went back to snoring. **Stupid warm-blooded reptile that never catches a cold.**

The surrounding was peaceful, light breeze caressed his cheeks as Hiccup stalked off for some water. It must be Southern Visithug. The North was permanently coating with snow but the South has a climate almost like Berk, only colder. Hiccup's stomach growled loudly in protest, “Wow, that was loud, gotta get back soon. Yesterday’s flight used up all my energy.” While walking, Hiccup quickly counted what he needed to get done. **I am running out of monstrous nightmare liquid canisters, and I only have a few arrows for _Vein of Thunder_ left, I can’t use those regular ones on Coaberus either, normal arrows are too short. I am running out of clothes, as usual. Toothless kept lighting them on fire!** Hiccup amusedly sighed as he remembered all the times Toothless charred his person, starting with their first true flight, when they flown as one to avoid crashing onto seastacks. **I will need to start carrying my other sword, just in case. Dual-wielding saved my life countless times, and in this archipelago full of brutes, I need all the help I can get. I should probably get all my things from yesterday’s camp, no point leaving them out in the woods, even if no one would steal them. We will need to travel light from now on anyway, considering we will be visiting the Red Death’s nest, and the fact that we might need to be running away from a lot of vikings from now on. Life never gets easier, does it?**

After freshening up, Hiccup and Toothless raced to their campsite flying, well Toothless won, but his wings were born, not made. Hiccup did a quick pack-up of his belongings, mentally distributing most as gifts among the people of Coaberus. Then, they flew back to Coaberus, carefully avoiding the docks and markets, landing behind the chief’s house again.

“Hiccup! Where have you been?” Danard must have been waiting. He ran from his place at the chief’s back door to reach Toothless.

“I was out flying, Danard. Why?”

“We have a bad news. A friend that travelled to the Boneguard Tribe has intel that Chief Furlan from the Boneguard Tribe is inviting all the major tribes in the Barbaric Archipelago to his son's wedding.”

“So?” Hiccup was beyond confused. When he said he wanted to be updated on happenings within the archipelago, he did not mean marital affairs, unless it involved diplomatic relations. But Danard looked frantic and worried.

“He intends to use that opportunity to band together all major tribes and rid the dragons from their nest once and for all.”

“WHAT?!”

**No! Nononono... It can't be! Why now? What can I do? I haven't checked on the nest yet. I haven’t figured anything out yet!**

Hiccup picked up his pace and rushed to the village hall with Danard at his heels, finding the village council crowded around a round table. None were seated, even though there were stools by the side of the hall. The hall dark, a stark difference from the glaring outdoors. Hiccup’s eyes adjusted quickly, and Hiccup reached their Chief with a question.

“Is the information accurate?”

The Chief nodded solemly.

“It came from my nephew. He trades and travels a lot. The situation is not looking very good. The thing holding back the vikings these few times is the fear of death, that they will not return and it is magnified when fellow comrades doubt and pull out. If he manages to propose this during the wedding, meeting face-to-face, the chiefs would surely agree for honour's sake, and when all the major tribes agree, the minor tribes would follow suit.” Hiccup looked incredulous. **All the vikings against the Red Death, what difference would it make? None of our weapons can hurt it!**

Everyone in the hall shared a similar thought. **That'll be an annihilation.**

“I need to stop this. I thought I would have some time. When is the wedding exactly?”

An overdressed man stepped up to his question, “It is two weeks from now. All the tribes would have received the invitation today. I heard about this two days ago and sailed back as fast as I could. It is accurate for sure, I overheard him discussing with his subordinate when I was on the island trading. From what I observed, the Chief already had his ships reinforced and stocked up, away from the tribe’s eyes. The forge had stopped taking regular servicing for weeks as well, but remained constantly busy.”

“Do you know what is his plan?” They are worried. The vikings are desperate. They know that raids can only get worse. They think that after 300 years, the discovery of the way to the nest means that that must be all, but it isn't. They don't know about the queen nor what the queen is capable of!”

Everyone pushed together four tables and Hiccup threw his personal map on the table. “The dragons nest is not far from here. I can get to and fro the nest within a single day. I will get as must information about it as I can. Also, I will need to meet up with a friend. He can help, and I will rush back as soon as I can. It might take over a week. We need people to find out what the chief is planning, and dissuade him. If that dosen't work, then we stall. Burn the boats of the tribes, crash the wedding. **Not that I haven't done this before.** Anything!”

“Will do. I will personally head to Boneguard Tribe to talk to them. My nephew (that overdressed man) travels a lot and has connections, even in the Boneguard Tribe. He will find out the plan and try to get people to doubt and question. The rest of us will be prepared to intercept the tribes as a last resort.” The chief agreed. Hiccup felt guilty. He left without a word for six years after everyone accepted him, and came back asking for everyone to help him stop a war. Now they might risk themselves to stand up against the whole archipelago just to help Hiccup.

The chief continued: “And Hiccup, be careful at the nest. It might not be what you remember from six years ago.”

Hiccup took two steps back, and bowed as low as he could, to show respect and gratitude. Hiccup knew they would understand.

“I will leave tonight, I still need to do some preparation.” Hiccup hugged Danard tightly and walked out of the small village hall.

Then, Hiccup spent the whole day on surrounding islands collecting nightmare liquid, and in the forge making arrows. Then, he reinforced his and Toothless’ prosthetic mechanisms, before sharpening his swords. His inferno could extend into a flaming sword, and release zippleback gas on the other end, but it was never meant to be sharp, not until now. It was light and hollow when Hiccup made the retractable blade 4 years ago, but now was time for an upgrade. He replaced the metal used for the main part of the flaming blade with a harder steel and sharpened it.

Then, he melted Toothless’ shedded scales. Lava-type dragons had the hottest fire, but only Toothless’ fire could temporarily reduce the self-crystallizing characteristic of his own scales at the molecular level, long enough for lava-type dragons to melt them. Hiccup alloyed his other blade with toothless’ scales, and sharpened it before the self-crystallising characteristics of Toothless’ scales strengthened the blade.

Hiccup took off his fur-wear and reverted to his flight suit. His unused inferno strapped back onto his right thigh, and his _Vein of Thunder_ and sword on his back. He checked and rechecked the mechanisms running along Toothless' body and the saddle, before reattaching their baggage.

As for the rest of his souvenirs, he managed to part with most of them, except for his favourites: the barley, the grapes, the ricecakes… All are food, really. A few years of travelling had made him a glutton.

Hiccup and Toothless bid farewell to Danard and the villagers. “Hiccup, I swear even after this is all over. It you dare to disappear on me again, I might have you wanted at a higher price than what Berk issued, you hear me?” Danard, always resorting to threats.

Hiccup could only bow in respect and gratitude, and hugged Danard as tightly as possible. Danard had was the human friend he never had, what he wanted from Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut and the rest, but never gotten. He was much better though, as he understood sarcasm almost as well as Hiccup did. There was once they went around the village spouting sarcastic words that were plain as day to every single villager, and no more than five understood the insults. After Danard got used to Toothless, Hiccup rode with him dragon back for the first time and scared him until he peed himself! Toothless was so angry he bit onto Hiccup’s hand and wouldn’t let go for two days. After not meeting for 6 years, Hiccup grown and so did Danard. His hair colour darkened, as brown stripes appeared among his blond locks, and his skin was darker. He was still taller than Hiccup after all these years. The familiarity of their hug still remained, just as the blue of Danard’s eyes remained the same as Hiccup’s memories of him.

To think yesterday he was wondering how Barbaric Achipelago has changed and wanting to see each tribe for himself, to get to know the place and maybe find out how to convince people to make peace with dragons, and when everyone could ride dragons, there would be nothing the Red Death could do. Be killed by an archipelago of dragon-riders or starve to death. Now, he had a ticking time bomb on his back. He hadn't even been back for 3 days and he already had to leave soon.

Hiccup hopped onto his best friend’s back nimbly like he had done these past 6 years, and sped off with a nudge of his feet. Next stop, the dragons' nest, where this chaos began.

A vast ocean away, a proud and stern man, with red-hued auburn locks and huge beard received a letter delivered by a messenger from Boneguards.

_To Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk._

_I humbly invite you and well-wishers from Berk to bear witness when my son and his fianceé wed. There will be accommodations and food provided should you accept. The wedding will be held exactly two weeks from when you receive this letter. I hope to achieve greater friendship among all the major clans through gathering during this celebration and it would be the honour of the Bonehead Tribe to play host to your well-wishers. May you find the contents of this letter favourable and we hope to see you there. Farewell and take care. May honour be with us all._

_Furlan Stonegarde, Chief of Boneguard Tribe_

“What i’nit, Stoick?” The questions were raised by a cheery middle-aged man missing his left forearm and right leg. The braids on the left and right of his face swayed as he leaned over Stoick the Vast’s shoulder to peek at the parchment.

“An invitation by the Boneguards. They want us at his son’s wedding.” Stoick raised an eyebrow at his own words.

“Wedding you say? There’ll be food then?” The cheery blond man perked up at the thought of a celebration. He hadn’t been outside of Berk for a few years.

“Gobber, never mind the food. Dragon raids are more frequent than ever. We are not sailing that far. Berk will be defenceless.”

“Stoick, the village will be fine without you for a week. We are not expecting a raid during this period of time anyway. You should go with the teens. They need to learn diplomacy eventually, and you could introduce Snotlout as you successor. Of course, I should go with you since I, ah, wouldn’t be a party without my singing.”

Stoick sighed, exasperated. **Guess that’s settled then.**


	6. Off to the Nest

**There.**

The thick mist looked ordinary, normal, but Hiccup knew from experience that they had the ability to disorientate and mess with the minds of humans. Hiccup could sense Toothless' unease. 'Easy, bud. Its alright. Your mine. She won't be able to take you back.'

Toothless cooed lovingly at Hiccup before diving straight into the mist.

Hiccup hurt when he saw the destroyed viking ships littered around the area. How many had been sacrificed unnecessarily? How many families have been torn apart because of vikings' foolish-thinking and stubbornness? This had to end, one way or another. Hiccup could only wonder how desperate Toothless must feel to see his own kind being forced to take so many innocent lives.

Toothless let his instincts guide him through the maze of sea stacks and Hiccup completely relaxed himself and allowed Toothless to steer. Soon after, they arrived at the Red Death's island. It looked just like years before. Dull grey pebbles formed the coast and large stone solidified walls formed the mountain. The surroundings were dark and eerie even though it was mid-afternoon.

Toothless soundlessly slipped through a large crack into the Red Death's nest. Hiccup breathed deeply and maintained his composure so that his bond with Toothless would not waver, not even by a bit. Thankfully, the Red Death was resting. From what he knew about the nest, the slave dragons would rest on the surfaces on the inner cave walls, but Hiccup did not see many. They must be out for raiding, hopefully not on Berk. They would need to hurry so they wouldn't trap themselves in the nest.

Hiccup stilled and expanded his senses. Dragons were magically sensitive creatures even though they were not magical biologically, not for most of them. Years with Toothless had taught Hiccup to reach out and feel for magical influences, which most hypnotic spells were of. Like humans, dragons could certainly learn to manipulate magic but few are born with the talent naturally.

Hiccup could not help the sense of pride at knowing that his bond with Toothless was so intimate and strong that the Red Death's presence had no effect on Toothless. Sensing his rider's assurance, Toothless softly moaned in happiness, then yipped softly for Hiccup to get back to work.

**Bossy.**

Hiccup regained his focus and sensed. The Red Death was not deriving magic from any source. That meant that it had an inborn alpha character. Hiccup could feel that the dragons left in the mountain had consciousness and thought, but their memory and will were numbed. It was like they would know what they were doing, but would not question why nor choose to not do it. Hiccup did not remember how strong the Red Death was years ago, but her control currently was strong enough to manipulate more than twice the number of dragons she currently had enslaved. Much more than twice.

Hiccup couldn't help but continue watching the environment of the nest. Why would she want so much food all of a sudden? From what Hiccup knew, the amount of food taken from vikings had stayed at around the same amount for all these time. Why would it change within these few years while it stayed constant for 300 years?

Hiccup lightly tread the edge of the platform Toothless landed on and lightly hopped to a lower level without making his prosthetic click, while Toothless hissed loud enough for Hiccup to hear.

“Calm down bud, I'm not going far, just needed to get a closer look.”

_Do you know how dangerous this is?! Hiccup!_

Hiccup softly giggled at Toothless freaking out. Toothless would never let anything happen to him, and he would never stray where Toothless could not reach. Hiccup took out a piece of parchment paper and speedily sketched the interior of the nest and all the possible hiding spots, escape routes and weak points of the walls. He was finishing his sketch of the opening through the top of the volcano when he heard rustling from the bottom of the cave. He quickly signalled Toothless to stay put on the upper level in the nest. The Red Death must have woken up in anticipation for his meal.

**Glutton, much?**

Only the head of the Red Death was visible through the mist. She had numerous eyes lining the side of her head, and large nostrils. Her mouth and jaws were huge. She could probably open her mouth as wide as the opening at the top of the mountain. Hiccup quickly took down all these observations. He could not stay soon, his and Toothless' scents would get too strong. Hiccup did not want to spook her either, in case she increased the ferocity of the attacks as a threat. That was how dragons defended their territory. By terrorising it.

Hiccup only had to look at Toothless once for them to communicate the best plan of action: they would act when the dragons flew in to dump their food when the Red Death was most distracted. It worked. Just when the Red Death mercilessly swallowed a gronkle that brought back a small fish instead of the sheep and wolves the other dragons brought back, Hiccup hopped lightly off the platform and landed on Toothless’ back precisely as he flew past. That manoeuvre was a piece of cake to them, having tested their limits through unimaginably dangerous stunts before. Toothless flew soundlessly out of the volcano while the Red Death still obliviously enjoyed its meal.

“We're finally outta there! Odin that was close!”

Toothless whacked Hiccup with his earplate twice. _You just had to run off! That was dangerous!_

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry bud. But what's life without a little excitement?” Hiccup cheekily grinned at Toothless and raised his arms for a stretch.

That got Toothless more pissed. Three more whacks!

Hiccup and Toothless flew aimlessly until the sun set over the horizon. Toothless just enjoyed the wind and gave Hiccup the peace he needed.

Hiccup had few findings about the Red Death. Firstly, her ability to manipulate dragons was natural, but she had little effect on Toothless. That meant it was weaker than the mind control of Bewilderbeasts. Thinking back to a few years ago, Toothless had regained his consciousness after Hiccup shot him out of the sky but other dragons still remained under her control even after being hit by vikings. That meant that though there is a limit to the Red Death’s control, it was either by bonding with a human, or perhaps certain breeds of dragons were easier to break out of her control than the rest. Or maybe her control was more pervasive during raids.

Secondly, Red Death had few external physical weaknesses. She had no blind spot, good senses in terms of hearing and smell, but poor agility. Hiccup could only pray that perhaps she was flightless. Hiccup had observed gas pores within the Red Death’s mouth when she swallowed the gronkle whole just as Toothless flew out of the mountain. That meant it was highly possible she could breathe fire or poison. Or worse, both. The fact that it lived in a volcano points to her being able to withstand heat exceptionally well. Toothless’ plasma blasts might be able to do damage, but definitely not normal fire blasts.

Thirdly, the nest was almost circular in shape and had few cracks and fissures on its walls. Some regions of the wall could be cracked open with the force of catapults, but the mountain would not collapse easily. The Red Death would be well protected within the cocoon, not that much could harm it.

There were few strategies that might work against it, but the most suitable would depend on how much help he could get.

Hiccup startled when he realised that he was flying at night. “Oh! Its nightfall already? Toothless why didn’t you remind me?”

_Well, you were thinking. Couldn’t hurt to fly for a bit more._

“How could I ever doubt that you love flying more than I do? Well, now I am sick of the skies so let’s get some place to rest alright? I’m hungry.”

Toothless turned his head left and right before heading towards a small island closest to their position. They settled down shortly after their usual routine, with Hiccup leaning on Toothless’ body and Toothless was curled around their campfire.

“What now, Toothless?”

 _How should I know?_ Hiccup got a warble in response. Hiccup poked at the lighted firewood moodily, making the flames flicker. The way the warm glow illuminated Hiccup's face made him appear solemn and serious.

“The wedding will be 12 days from now, and we need to find a definite way to deal with the Red Death if we want the vikings to do what we say, or even believe us. And the worse thing is, I think my father might be there as the Chief of Berk. If they find out who I am, our plan is done for. No one would listen to someone like me.”

Toothless gently nudged Hiccup's face with his head to comfort him. He had no doubt that Hiccup will find a way. He always did.

_Stop worrying, Hiccup. Rest for now. Worry tomorrow._

Hiccup leaned back on Toothless' body and rested his head, looking up at the night sky. After flying through the night sky for so many times, he began to appreciate how it looked like from the ground. The view of the sky was exponentially more magical when flying, but seeing it from the ground made Hiccup feel more... grounded.

They had only settled down to sleep early in the morning when the sky was still dark so when Hiccup woke up at late morning, he had only gotten 4 hours of sleep. He was used to surviving on little sleep and a nocturnal lifestyle so this didn't bother him. Sadly, on top of that, he had a restless sleep. The weight of ending the 3 hundred year war between humans and dragons weighed heavily on his mind.

He sat silently without alerting Toothless and watched his closest family sleep on. Toothless snored loudly. He must have been really tired, though Hiccup knew that Toothless would wake at the slightest sound to watch out for them both. Toothless was protective of him like that. Sometimes Hiccup thought of ridiculous things, like maybe to night furies, Toothless and him were as not just brothers but mated, and maybe Toothless thought of him as a mate. Or maybe Toothless just followed Hiccup thinking Hiccup saved his life by releasing him from the bola traps, so he owed his life to Hiccup. Those were ridiculous thoughts, of course. Hiccup knew for a fact that Toothless was smarter than most of the people on Berk. They were brothers for life, no doubt about that. Toothless knew all of Hiccup’s past too. Hiccup had been honest to Toothless about everything the night they left Berk, about how he was the one to cripple Toothless and tried to kill him, all for the sake of impressing people. Toothless was the closest family to him, and if Toothless chose to kill him or cripple him, Hiccup would not resist.

It was since that night that Hiccup began to instuitively be able to understand Toothless. Their bond became more than friendship or brotherhood or familial attachment. It was intimate how Hiccup could _hear_ Toothless’ words and thoughts without even looking at him. Hiccup knew that the bond went both ways, as Toothless would always comfort him before he knew he felt sad, and support him before Hiccup was aware of his own insecurities acting up. They grew up together under each other’s watchful eyes. Hiccup was once again struck by how much strength Toothless’ presence brought him. Toothless was all he needed.

 

Just a day after Stoick received the letter, Berk's well-wishing committee was already established. They had to travel minimally a week by boat so Stoick planned to set off in two days to arrive early for the wedding. After a minor meeting of the council, it was decided that the heirs’ generation: Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Gobber will travel with Stoick. Another twenty odd Berkians would set off days later and make it just in time for the ceremony. Stoick was busy arranging for the gift for the Boneguards while Gobber prepared weapons they could carry with them.

Snotlout was in the ring with the twins, chattering excitedly of what to show off to their childhood playmates from other clans and training with the captured dragons. They were no longer allowed to kill dragons in the ring except for the class in training so they did not need to set aside men to capture more dragons for training.

“Heh! I would love for them to see my new trick. Watch!” Snotlout threw his axe horizontally and hit a standing pillar with impressive aim. “Very good, but we could make things explode without touching it!” Then, Ruffnut pointed to a distant point on the ground but Tuffnut pushed her out of the way and pointed at the same spot and it busted into flames.

“Hey! That was my trick!”

“So what? I made it explode so it’s mine.

And that marked the third argument the twins had that day. Snotlout paid them no mind and continued admiring his ‘awesome throwing skills’.

In the woods just outside the village however, Astrid landed solidly on the forest ground. Her blonde braid flew around her head to land over her left shoulder. She held her axe loosely behind her body as she focused on the three targets arranged far front of her at varying height, distance and size. She squinted her eyes, and did a somersault towards the tree in front of her on her right, then used the tree trunk as a stepping ground as she flipped into the air where she launched her first throw on the target on the furthest and extreme left. She spun her body parallel to the ground to reduce the impact when she landed hard on the ground and she dove forward to the front of her second target. With a speedy turn counter-clockwise, she retrieved two axes attached to the back of her waist and hacked the target with the axe on her right hand. The target came off its place fixed on the thick tree, stuck on Astrid's axe. She used it to hang on a low branch of the same tree before pulling herself up single-handedly. She let go of the axe and used the upward momentum to flip so she supported her up-side down body with her right hand, then cartwheeled back onto her legs. She ran along the branch at full speed before jumping off the branch with all her might and smashed her axe into a target five metres away. Astrid then backward somersaulted off the target board to land perfectly on the forest ground.

A clap resounded from her left where Fishlegs sat on a boulder writing on his parchment, not paying attention at all. Astrid sighed deeply before talking. “Fishlegs, I get you are not interested and trust me, neither am I, but I promised the chief to get you minimally combat-ready, or at least capable of defending yourself in two days. Work with me here.”

Fishlegs did not even look up from his work. “Astrid. I AM capable of defending myself, and even if I wasn't, I don't have to watch to know that you are teaching moves that I can barely process, much less use.” Fishlegs then straightened up and looked down at Astrid exasperatedly. “If you have to teach, then teach me something that required minimal physical demand because if it is not obvious enough, I do not have the stamina, strength nor agility to fight like you do.” Fishlegs then looked back down and continued to write.

Astrid grunted, frustrated. “Well, what do you suggest? Axe, sword, spear, even whip. Give me something I can work with, Fishlegs. You're not the one that has to answer to Chief Stoick. I will not fail him.”

“Archery.”

“I wasn't taught that.”

“Knife-throwing.”

“I throw axes, not knives.”

“Whips then.”

“I take that back. I never tried training whips.”

“Then I guess there's not much to do here, Astrid. Excuse me.”

Astrid gaped as Fishlegs just plainly walked off. Things changed, even though people still looked the same.

As they grew up, the teens were gradually split up and given different responsibilities. Snotlout was forced to shadow Stoick to learn to run a village, though it was a mystery whether he really learnt anything. He only ever showed off or meddled with other people's affairs when he approached the villagers. Astrid trained with the warriors that defended the village by day and learnt housework from her mother at night over these few years, like Ruffnut. Tuffnut trained as a warrior too, but he helped out at the forge in Hiccup's place. Gobber always complained he would not stop talking and always messed up the forge after he was done, doubling the amount of work Gobber had to do. Fishlegs were the most impressive in Astrid's opinion, no matter what the others thought.

He helped Stoick. He actually _helped_ Stoick, unlike Snotlout who just wanted to look good. Fishlegs was initially just a scribe in the council meetings, when he was timid and fearful. It was during one meeting when the council made a decision with how to contain the dragons that Fishlegs gave an intelligent suggestion, that he was unofficially made the council's advisory-in-training. He had a wide range of knowledge, especially regarding dragon characteristics. Years of helping out during meetings had made him more self-assured and attentive, compared to the clumsy and easily-distracted teen he was. Astrid admired that.

She used to look down on Fishlegs and Hiccup the most, but she learnt that strength was not purely physical. Fishlegs might not be strong but he found a place for himself in a society where physical strength triumphed everything, which was admirable. Though at that moment, she cursed that Fishlegs was not the scared and obedient kid he was. He just made things more difficult for her. How hard could it be for him to just follow what she did?

As Fishlegs walked away, he contemplated Berk's Stoick's decision in making Astrid teach him. There were plenty of people that fit the job description, so why Astrid? That had been talk that some of the villagers were against Snotlout taking over as Chief. It probably looked even worse for Snotlout given he messed up plenty of times as stand-in Chief when Stoick was unavailable. If Stoick was planning for another heir, the best candidate was Astrid but as she was a girl, she would have to be... attached...

Fishlegs gave himself a huge face palm. What was Stoick thinking setting them up together? **What am I thinking? Of course he thought I would be able to assist Astrid well, given my position in the council. Assuming we got together and she became Chief of course. He would want that.**

Fishlegs could only wish that seeing there be no progress with his physical abilities, nor his and Astrid's relationship that Stoick would drop the idea. At least he could look forward to the lesson on diplomacy tomorrow.


	7. Back for None

“...and thats why diplomatic relationships are important. It bands together vikings of different clans and together we stand stronger! Now you are the future leaders of Berk and... STOP SLEEPING!”

The council elder intimidated Snotlout and the twins. “One more time I catch you snoring and you will be banned from the trip.”

“Aww come one. You can't stop the Snot Lord from going!” “Yeah! Us too!”

Astrid internally scolded Snotlout and the twins for disrupting the class AGAIN. She looked to Fishlegs for his reaction but Fishlegs just silently looked through the notes he took down. He probably got used to having the lesson disrupted every 20 minutes. A three hour briefing was now taking the whole day. Astrid didn't need to try to know that she won't be able to complete the task Stoick gave. From the looks of it, Stoick was empathetic, because where he sat at the back of the room observing the lesson, he gave a deep frown at the new interruption.

Astrid sometime wondered if Chief Stoick would really choose another heir. Snotlout was heir only because of bloodline. He was Stoick's nephew, but surely he couldn't be Chief. Besides, Berk was never one to be too concerned with bloodline, and Stoick got his Chieftain because of his conviction, not lineage.

Who else could be a good leader then? From their generation, only Fishlegs and Astrid. The younger ones were still in dragon training. By the time they finished and are of age, they would not have enough time to apprentice under the Chief which usually took years. Astrid was a warrior, not a leader, though she would step up to the challenge for Berk's sake. And Fishlegs... he was smarter compared to the rest of them, but he could not fight very well, and that was a huge disadvantage. Was it why Chief Stoick wanted her to teach him? Did Chief Stoick want him to replace Snotlout as the heir? Then why not train him himself? Politics baffled Astrid as always. She was a warrior, not politician. Caring about politics never got her anywhere so she shook away her running thoughts and focused on the lesson, which had still yet to continue.

From the back, Stoick watched the room of youngsters. They were Berk's future? Stoick sighed helplessly. Fishlegs and Astrid were promising youths, and the twins might be playful, but they were courageous and innovative. Only Snotlout. He was ambitious, sure. But he did not have the maturity to be Chief. After 5 years of teaching him about Chiefly duties, he still had yet to understand even the most basic - resource allocation within Berk. Even Spitelout had spoken to him that he would not hold it against Stoick if his son was taken off his heir position. He watched Fishlegs attentively taking down notes, and Astrid asking critical questions and applying the lesson to real life. Hiccup would act like a combination of them, Stoick was sure. Hiccup would start off taking down notes, and then get lost in thought thinking of bewildering ideas, then snap out of it to ask a bunch of 'dumb' questions.

Stoick smiled warmly looking at Hiccup's excited 4-year-old figure that couldn't seem to stop moving. He was always playing with mud, sticks, always making strange things from elements. Then, Hiccup's boyish face called “Dadddee” while holding up a strange thing for him to praise. He never held back then. Everything made by his son was the best. The absolute best. He loved Hiccup so much, and with little strength, he carried Hiccup up to his shoulder and tossed him into the air to play with him.

When Hiccup returned to his hands, he was 8-years-old. Stoick didn't have time to look after him then so Gobber volunteered. Every day when Hiccup returned home, he would show Stoick contraptions and sketches of designs, just as Stoick had work to settle. Truthfully, those things Hiccup worked on never looks good. Better to be used to smash dragons than what Hiccup had planned, so Stoick worried about the village's food supply, and worried that Hiccup should stop thinking crazy ideas and learn to help out with running a village soon.

The next time Hiccup walked into the sitting room, he was covered in bruises and tears. He was 12 perhaps. Stoick couldn't say for sure. Those years he had been busy with village affairs. He barely returned home daily and always slept in the meeting hall. Hiccup walked up to him fearfully and in tears. “Snotlout. He messed with my pap-”

“Hiccup. You have to learn to fight your own battles! You can't always be asking me to talk to my brother for you! Snotlout is your cousin. Get along with him for once.” That stunned look turned into disappointment too soon. Hiccup backed away from Stoick, nodding. The next time he raised his head, he was as old as he was when he left.

“Dad. I can't kill dragons!” He begged.

“But you will kill dragons.”

“No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't.”

“It's time, Hiccup.” Stoick headed over to get his axe. That was a family heirloom. Now, it was Hiccup's. Stoick was proud that Hiccup now carried his axe.

“CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME?” And suddenly, they were in the great hall. Stoick panicked and trembled at Hiccup's distraught look and crying face.

“Dad. It's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen.” Hiccup would refuse again and again to tell him the nest's location. Why would he side with the dragon? Stoick felt anger rise up his belly momentarily, but no. He remembered what came next.

“Dad. PLEASE. I promise you that you can't win this one!” Hiccup had tear stains all over his face. Hiccup reached for him so desperately, so pleadingly. Stoick felt heartbroken seeing his son like this again. He wanted to grab Hiccup and protect him from what came next, then Hiccup's face changed, like it always did at this point in his nightmares. Hiccup went from fear and desperation to anguish.

“No... Dad... No... For once in your life, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!”

And Stoick woke up with a yell! The occupants of the room all stared at him.

Right.

He was watching the class.

“See? Mister Longshot. Even Chief Stoick fell asleep!” Snotlout actually continued to talk back to the council elder. **Unbelievable.**

Astrid watched Chief Stoick worriedly. **The chief had nightmares?**

Stoick didn't know why did he have this dream again. He hadn't had it nor thought of Hiccup for 3 years. The Chief feigned calmness and excused himself.

The Chief spent the rest of the day up in Hiccup's room, looking at all his sketches and diagrams. How many times had Hiccup tried to help, to fit in? How hard had he tried? How much had he been rejected for him to turn to the dragons, before he gave up and betrayed them?

Stoick wondered in silence if he was the one that emotionally condemned his son to the life of a traitor. But, it didn't matter anymore. Hiccup is gone and he would never see his son again.

 

After sitting for hours watching Toothless snore, Hiccup had finally decided to visit Lankthnu. The journey would take days, but Lankthnu was someone he could count on for ideas. Besides, he had to take responsibility, since he herded Hiccup onto this path in life. Hiccup didn’t _really_ blame all these difficulties on Lankthnu, but hey, it felt good to blame someone even though it wasn’t their fault.

Days passed by quickly while Hiccup and Toothless travelled. They slipped back into their routine easily and unaware. They would rest and eat during the day, then fly for the whole night. Life was easy and simple with just each other for company. On the last day though, Hiccup received a message from Dannard, delivered by a terror. It seemed not even the people from Boneguard knew how their chief found out the way to the nest. Chief Furlan is also a rare sight in Boneguard nowadays, disappearing for weeks at a time, but only a handful trusted soldiers knew where he went. Chief Barmad had failed to convince Chief Furlan. Heck, he didn’t even manage to see that idiot.

Hiccup finally arrived at the foot of Lankthnu's mountain at night after the angsty ride. That had been one long and difficult flight and Hiccup could feel his butt ache in the most uncomfortable of ways.

He met Lankthnu a couple of months ago, when he saved a city from an alpha dragon. Who knew? Toothless had the nature of an alpha as well. Toothless managed to drive away the alpha by banding together dragons the alpha led and they saved the city. However, the wound on Hiccup's leg was deeply poisonous and Hiccup fainted from pain soon.

Toothless told him afterwards that Toothless had been unconsciously led to Lankthnu's home following the magic trace he gave out. Toothless had panicked when he regained consciousness that he carried Hiccup to a mountain cave. He learnt humans needed to be treated by other human with medicine and equipment. This old guy had nothing!

However, it seemed Lankthnu foresaw that a young boy would save the city and die, but this boy had a greater purpose. Lankthnu had since then paid close attention to the city. Lankthnu observed that the alpha living in the mountains south of the city was getting enraged that his dragons were increasingly hunted and knew that Hiccup would show up soon. So, he left traces of his magic around the area.

When Hiccup finally appeared, he secretly watched Hiccup's movements and learnt much about him. And when the alpha attacked, he guarded Hiccup with magic when he was bitten, to keep the poison from spreading. Toothless was then hypnotised into bringing Hiccup to Lankthnu by following the magic trace.

Though Lankthnu could not save Hiccup's leg, he guided him in discovering himself and taught him much about magic. That was when Hiccup resolved to stop the war between dragons and humans and returned to the Barbaric Archipelago.

One could say he was terribly distracted however. Hiccup had spent months getting caught up by travels and people before actually reaching the Barbaric Archipelago.

“C'mon Toothless! Let’s see Lankthnu again!”

_Urgh..._

Hiccup giggled at Toothless' childish groan.

Lankthnu forbid them from flying up the mountain to see him. Something about working for it. Nevertheless, Hiccup respected his rule.

It took them another 5 hours of endless journey before they reached Lankthnu's cave. Funny. The jolly man was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!

“Urgh...” _Urgh..._ Man and dragon groaned in unison.

Hiccup searched high and low in the cave only to come across a letter left for him.

_Good day, Hiccup. I knew you will be kind enough to obey my request. That gave me enough time to hide away since I saw your flying miles away. The climb must have taken you hours. Please accept my apologies._

_How does it feel to return to the place you lost your leg? How is your dear pal? Have you eaten?_

_Well, now that the casual greetings are over with, I must be truthful. I will not be able to assist you with your task no more. My purpose with you was to help you discover your purpose, and now that that's done, I'm afraid I can do no more but to give you my blessings._

_But as a last show of brotherhood, I give you one last advice: You will be tested emotionally. Always remember that the weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong, and love and forgiveness go hand in hand._

_This is all. Look for me again, when you have completed your task. I will welcome you._

_P.s. No need to climb up the mountain then. A huge waste of time and energy, I say._

Toothless didn't understand what was happening. _What did it say?_ Toothless tried to ask, to a stone-faced Hiccup before Hiccup actually stomped over to Toothless, sat down hard, yelled and threw his hands about frustratedly, then pouted with all his might.

“I got cheated by him again! He's gone. We climbed the mountain for nothing.” Hiccup silently asked for affection the way he leaned into Toothless, and Toothless sat down and placed his head into Hiccup's chest, then surprised Hiccup with a multitude of licks and tackled Hiccup while tickling him.

I can’t believe this! Not only did I not manage to see him, he wasted days of my time too!

Hiccup made sure to mess up the cave good before leaving as a bit of payback. By the time he left, the cave was entirely uninhabitable. Ashes were smudges onto the walls and the floor burnt crispy. Boulders and tiny sharp rocks lay everywhere. _He wasted three days of my time. He earned this. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong my foot._

“We have no choice then. We'll go and see that idiot ourselves. I’ll make sure he listens, one way or another. We are getting the guy and heading to Boneguards ourselves.”


	8. Skrill

“Mom. Don't miss me.” Astrid hugged her frail Mother tightly. “I'll be home soon.” Her Mother patted his grown-up daughter proudly on the back. “Listen to the Chief well, Astrid. Don't give him any problems. Protect your friends.” She smiled in the kind way only a mother could, but her back burned really bad that she couldn’t even stand anymore.

Astrid nodded, remembering her Mother's words with all her heart. The gentle breeze made her hair sway in the sea breeze. For a viking, Astrid turned out pretty handsome. She would already be married if she hadn’t chosen to be a shield maiden, but no matter what, her Mother was proud of her. She would always have her support in the choices she made.

Spitelout nagged Snotlout this and that, while Fishlegs dragged a heavy bag of food and books with him onto the pier. The youngsters were all dressed in the best set of armour and clothes, and they brought their best weapon along.

It was an early morning when they were setting off.

Stoic watched the parents send off their children one by one. He had watched them grow up with Hiccup. It felt like only yesterday when they started dragon training, as enthusiastically as he had when he was their age, except for Hiccup. He thought Hiccup wanted to join dragon training badly but Gobber said Hiccup was moody on the first day, until he started getting better and became the top in class! That was the first time Stoick truly felt pride at being Hiccup’s father ever since he grew up, but even that was a lie. Dragons took everything from him, his parents, friends, Valka and even his only son.

It had been five years too long, walking up the hill alone at night to return to an empty house. Sometimes when he was really drunk, he would remember when he, Spitelout and their sisters would sit around the fire listening to his father’s brave tales. He remembered when he carried Valka home the first night of their marriage, when he dreamt of growing old with her in his arms. He remembered returning home every night seeing Hiccup’s cooled homecooked dinner on the table and checking up on his sleeping son.

He loved them so much.

Stoic shook himself from his thoughts. He looked over the horizon at the rising sun and the golden sea. He just realised that his thoughts strayed again. The weird feeling in his gut would not disappear. Ever since he received the letter two days ago, he had been getting weird vibes and Hiccup kept appearing in his mind. He thought he had let the past go. His only purpose right now was to protect Berk, so the past could only be the past.

Stoic busied himself with helping Gobber and the guys to load food, water and weapons onto the ship, while waiting for the youths to finish their goodbyes. Stoic did not have to intentionally occupy himself for long, as the youths boarded the ship one by one soon, from Astrid, Fishlegs, the twins to Snotlout.

“Alright! Let's go! We will show them the pride of Berk, us!” Snotlout cheered shamelessly when the ship sailed off over the golden sea.

He was joined by Tuffnut and together they walked about the ship, fully enjoying the novel experience of sailing, pointing here and there and loudly chattering about the wedding ceremony. Snotlout couldn’t wait to see what it was like outside Berk, since none of them had ever step foot out of Berk before. Even Tuffnut couldn’t imagine how fun it would be to travel elsewhere, to see different people. They chatted animatedly and loudly.

Unlike them, Astrid and Ruffnut wordlessly went to a corner of the ship and sat down, before chatting casually but quietly. They had not much in common besides both loving to fight, although motivated by different things. However, the suffering of having to learn housework and needlework despite being fighters brought them closer in recent years. Among a bunch of boys, only they could relate to what each other was going through. As they grew up and gender roles became more pronounced to them, support from a fellow woman was irreplaceable and the uncanny sisterhood between them was born.

They were interrupted when Stoick called them over to discuss their course, then everyone eventually settled down to their own affairs. The youths were taught to read maps and steer ships before, so everyone could take turns to man the helm and stand watch.

It took a mere 2 hour for all excitement to die down and Snotlout and Tuffnut to complain of the boredom. Astrid and Ruffnut nodded off after their conversations. Only Fishlegs was comfortably occupying his time on board. He was so engrossed with his reading, too used to having long hours to himself. The only difference being he could not write well due to the movements of the ship. No one in Berk ever shared his love for knowledge. Even though the book of dragons were compiled by generations of Berkians, but of all the dragon training graduates, he knew very well that he was the only trainee that actually did the reading, except for one who no one had spoken of for years.

Initially, Fishlegs felt as surprised and fooled as the rest of Berk that Hiccup betrayed them, going around talking about dragons as if they were innocent and loveable, when they killed so many of their tribesmen. But he could not help himself from wanting to discover the truth. Hiccup suddenly became so proficient at handling dragons in dragon training and always disappeared in the afternoon. Even an idiot would sense something amiss with his behaviour. Fishlegs suspected Astrid was too angry and looked down on Hiccup too much to care about these out-of-ordinary actions. That must be why he was the only one investigating it.

Fishlegs used repairing his chipped weapon as an excuse to get permission to enter the forge alone. Alone because Gobber often took days away from the forge since Hiccup left. He left much of the simple work like sharpening or fixing weapons to Tuffnut and other apprentices. As a result, the forge was empty on most nights, unlike when Hiccup would stay late messing with his projects, and helping Gobber with what he could not finish with. Fishlegs had not known that Hiccup worked so hard in the forge before, by the time he finished reshaping the axe, he was panting hard and sweating heavily. To think Hiccup spent everyday in the forge probably doing even more strenuous and skill-testing tasks amazed him. He had even heard Tuffnut complaining of body cramps for a whole two weeks after he started helping out in the forge a few hours a day.

Fishlegs understood that he would have known all these, would have known more about Hiccup had he not intentionally distanced himself from Hiccup. When he was old enough to understand what was being popular, and what was being outcasted, he was the one who pushed his childhood friend away. He was the one to give up a friend that shared his curiosity and left his friend to suffer alone. He had stopped talking to Hiccup once he realised that Hiccup was the _only_ one that was bullied by Snotlout, because he feared of being disliked by all of their friends. But whenever he looked back to when Hiccup realised why exactly was his _only_ friend on the _whole_ island ignoring him, Hiccup’s eyes were full of that look of disappointment and admission in his sad and teary eyes. Fishlegs felt his stomach curl. Hiccup stopped trying to talk him like they always did after then. From then on, they only interacted distantly, as if they had never been closer than casual acquaintances. Hiccup never scolded him or blame him… they just stopped…

Fishlegs lowered his head guiltily without realising it.

There were a few times he felt the urge to talk to someone about Hiccup, but who could he talk to? Snotlout and the twins, who bullied Hiccup since young? Astrid? She probably hated his guts the most. Hiccup happened to embody the traits she hated most in people: weakness, stupidity and betrayal.

What about Stoick? Anyone would know better to talk to Stoick about Hiccup. Same goes for Gobber. Ever since Hiccup left, Gobber had a huge falling out with Stoick about Hiccup. No one on Berk dared to mention Hiccup’s name in front of the two ever again.

Fishlegs took out a thick book, the book of dragons, but when he opened the book to a specific page, he uncovered a small booklet he hid. This was something he never told any of the teens, nor Stoick. On one of the pages was the diagram for a very weird mechanism. No matter how hard Fishlegs studied the plan, he could not understand any part of the plan at all. The diagrams were incredibly complicated that Fishlegs wondered if anyone on Berk was smart enough to come up with it. A few of the pages behind had magnified drawings of the intricate mechanisms that were drawn precisely. It didn’t take a genius to identify who drew these diagrams. Perhaps the others, even his own father didn’t know it, but Fishlegs had seen Hiccup draw a few times. He was _talented._

After 5 years of not understanding more about them than before, these diagrams only served to remind him of how much he owed Hiccup. They remind him that he owed Hiccup justice for not standing by Hiccup’s side before, so now he would stand up for himself. He understood that by being fearful of sharing his views, of standing up for what he felt was right, the people he would be hurting would be the people he cared about. That was why as a apprentice secretary in the Berkian council, when he noticed a flaw in Berk’s containment of the excess dragons they managed to catch, he surpassed himself and spoke up against the elders. He had _earned_ his own place in the Berkian council.

Fishlegs ended up spending a whole afternoon reading and writing even when the others went to sleep out of boredom. He even took over Gobber at the steering rod once so Gobber could have his lunch. When Astrid came to help him, they talked for a while about the new batch of dragon training trainees. They would be assisting Gobber with the next batch after this trip so they tried to remember as much as they could from their training days. Because Gobber was still the one in charge, they didn’t hope to completely do away with the ‘learning on the job’ method, but they could hope to make it safer.

Stoick was silent for almost the whole day. He wanted to give himself some time to clear his mind. If he remained so bothered by useless matters for the rest of this trip, how can Berk count on him as their chief? It was not a big ship, only having one roofed cabin on one open deck. He watched Berk disappear under the seas, then left the back of the ship to rest in the cabin.

Their trip was uneventful until the third night. It seemed like the thunderstorm came out of nowhere! A light drizzle turned into heavy rain, then thunder and lightning. Stoick woke up at the first sign of bumpy seas. The young Berkians only woke up due to the ship rocking wildly. The young Berkians that were sleeping in the cabin opened the cabin door. Fishlegs’ breath hitched at the sight of the giant waves of the sea that clawed like monsters. The rain pounded heavily and one especially large wave knocked Astrid off her feet, causing her to land hard on the deck.

“Get a hold of yourselves!” Stoick’s voice was muffled by the pouring rain and the relentness crashing sounds of the stormy sea. Gobbed managed the sails and Stoick steered. The rest of the Berkians each grab hold of the ship rails. Fishlegs’ face went completely pale when the ship sailed over the crest of one especially large wave. The ship was elevated higher than the ship’s original height, then a dramatic drop down to the trough of the wave.

Just then, a series of blinding flash in the sky was followed by rhythmic booms. The beat was unfamiliar to most of those on board but Stoick and Gobber had their mouths open in shock. They watched the sky attentively until the next flash illuminated the silhouette of a dragon in the sky the size of their ship. Gobber stuttered, “Ssttttoick!”

Stoick gasped, “The skrill…”

As the lightning strikes grow closer and closer to the bumping ship, Stoick desperately prayed that their ship will go unnoticed, but their hopes were shattered when the next lightning struck the seawater close to the ship. Stoick turned the wooden steering stick all the way to the front and the ship took a sharp turn leftwards to avoid the crashing waves. The next lightning actually hit right in the heart of the ship. The cabin exploded into splinters and burst into flames.

Before the Berkians could even release the breaths they were holding, Stoick watched the dragonic form gather white electrifying flashes around his body and release it in the direction of the burning ship. “JUMP SHIP!!!” Stoick yelled.

Astrid dived straight into the dark sea. After being swept around by the undercurrents, she finally managed to surface momentarily but was pushed under the sea by another caused by a last lightning strike that shattered the ship. No matter how she struggled to surface, the surface was so far away and unreachable. Astrid panicked and her eyes widened! She swam with all her might but the surface seemed to grow relentlessly. It was like invisible hands were pulling her down deeper and deeper into the darkness. Her chest hurt and instincts forced her to breath. She could hear nothing except for the buzzing in her ears and she lost consciousness with her eyes on the explosion above the blurry surface. Then it all went black…

That night, a black speck zoomed past the storm. Hiccup watched and sensed something wrong with the lightning. They were too focused and organised. “Skrill. Toothless we are not flying through that storm. Let’s go around it.”

Toothless let out a small grunt in reply and turned Southwards. Toothless was really prideful and always insisted on flying through storms, claiming he was too fast for lightning, even though he and Hiccup had metal prosthetics. That was true. It was like a game to them, like the stunts they did when flying. Hiccup reminisced about some of their more crazy rides and lay back on Toothless’ back. It was like Toothless could hear his thoughts because Toothless cheered (by roaring). The young man’s laughter and the dragon’s roar erupted under the dark skies, unconcerned about the distant booms that exploded.

Hiccup usually let Toothless do as he pleased. Toothless could fly faster than lightning if he wanted, but with a skrill present, it was truly too risky. They needed to go around the storm and avoid the skrill. No point giving themselves extra trouble.

Hiccup stared up at the dark skies and lost himself in his wild imaginations. He sometimes imagined the world to be upside-down, with the pitch-black bottomless skies down below, and felt how scary it was to fall into unending darkness where height was infinitely high.

They flew off just as a particularly loud thunder sounded immediately following a lightning. Hiccup sat up leaning on his elbow and looked back behind at the storm. Hiccup silently mused that he would hate to be caught in the storm and carelessly wondered if there was truly anyone with such bad luck.

Hiccup fell asleep on Toothless’ back not long after. One would be surprised with how easy it was for him to fall asleep while flying dragon-back. He did not even have to lock Toothless’ stirrups, being too comfortable with tweaking the stirrups by sensing the minute changes in Toothless’ movements, even while sleeping lightly. Every turn, every exertion of Toothless’ back muscles and every bit of change in altitude hit Hiccup’s senses clear as day.

Unbeknownst to Stoick and Hiccup, their father-son fate had not ended with the falling out from years ago. The currents carried those Berkians south-westwards, as if obeying an invisible hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry :(( A levels are starting in 6 days and I had to get my uni applications sorted out T.T I'm so sorry for the late update (I have the whole thing completed and sitting in my folder but didn't have time to post...)


	9. Hakru

Despite the detour, Hiccup still managed to reach the island of Harbland before sunrise. He hadn't used the High Altitude Wind System this time round, since he had to refer to the map ever so often to find this island. The journey had taken much longer than it should have.

The island some distance South of the Boneguard territories looked to be completely uninhabited and the wild forest blanketed the lands, but two pillar-like mountains stood tall and exposed on the North-west side of the island.

Hiccup steered Toothless to a hidden cave on the taller mountain that faced the shorter one, completely covered by a curtain of leaves and vines. The cave was dark and moist but cooling, and a small waterfall supplied clean water into a spring three times Toothless' size. Hiccup discovered this place during his travels. He was testing his self-made leather wings and they crashed onto this mountain. Toothless had tumbled into this cave by accident and Hiccup had tumbled into a feverish boy fainted on the cave floor on the verge of death.

Hiccup set down his baggage and unsaddled Toothless, not bothering with checking the place for human or dragon presence. There was no one on this island that dared to venture into the mountains, except for _him_.

Hiccup left Toothless in the cave to rest and travelled through the landscape. Even though it was winter, this island was forever decorated in red and orange leaves. Warmth permeated the air here even in the early morning.

No matter how wild and unexplored this island appeared to be, Hiccup knew what to look for. Thin, snapped twigs on the ground, silence without wild animals' movements and plucked fruitless plants were all signals to Hiccup that someone had been there. Hiccup followed the traces to an ordinary-looking tree that rose above the canopy. That was it.

The young man seemed to be stupidly clutching the sides of the stiff and thick tree. No one could possible climb such a thick tree empty handed. To anyone else, Hiccup would be trying the impossible.

Then, miraculously, he climbed one step up. His hands didn't even reach around the side of the tree and yet he managed to hold on without falling. He interchangedly shifted his left and right hands up the tree stump. It looked as if his hands were magnetically attracted to the tree bark to be able to hold on without slipping, but in actual fact, two very sturdy yet tiny sunken drains was carved out along the tree stump on two sides of the stump, just wide enough for fingers to fit in. Hiccup held on using these and climbed up the humongous tree. It took a lot of arm strength and stamina but to a fighter and rider like Hiccup, this was barely a challenge.

Not long after, Hiccup reached the lower branches of the canopy. Hiccup hopped up these branches and a platform revealed itself. Standing on this platform, Hiccup could spy the whole canopy of the orange woods that reflected the warm glow from the sun. He could see the hidden village in the midst of the orange sea. Dozens of connected platforms and treehouses formed a complicated linked network of a village. The person that build this platform had to have excellent knowledge of these woods to be able to find this location where the whole canopy layer of the forest was revealed while this platform remained hidden throughout the forest. Hiccup could clearly see all the villagers busying up and down their community, hidden beneath the leaves and too high up to be seen from the ground.

Hiccup waited on this empty platform for the usual occupant to return.

“Hiccup!”

Hiccup was startled up from his nap by the voice of a handsome boy with firey hair and brown highlights. The boy looked to be about 25, strong and lean as someone who moved amongst the branches and leaves. The boy seemed to drop down onto the platform from nowhere. “Hakru!” Before they could hug, an orange scaled dragon hissed excitedly from a lower branch nearby and dove right into Hiccup, knocking the breath out of him.

“Blazedclimber! Nice to see you again, boy!” Hiccup scratched the dragon adoringly. Blazedclimber had to be about the same size as Toothless, but he was much thinner. With his thin limbs like branches and orangescales, this dragon would blend right into this piece of woods. Blazedclimber nuzzled his savior endearingly like Hiccup was his mother.

Hiccup's unlikely meeting with duo made Hiccup their savior and brother. There was a belief shared by the village to East, the one Hiccup was spying at and the only one that existed on this island. It was that a curse existed on this island that a dragon was the reincarnation of a devil and it lived within these woods, close to the mountains. It maintained the warmth on this island with hell's fire, causing it to be in the season of autumn all year round. The devil would burn anyone that entered its woods and then eat the ashes. That was why anyone who ventured westwards in the woods never returned and no one never dared to explore the woods anymore. The village would produce a young human sacrifice every two years as tribute to the dragon. _He_ , Hakru was their last tribute at that time.

Hiccup had found the feverish Hakru within the cave. Turned out Hakru had been surviving within the woods, living on berries and wildlife for a week after being abandoned in the woods. Even for someone who managed to avoid being killed by wild flamebreaths for a whole week while others would be killed immediately, Hakru could not heal his own fever and it worsened to critical levels. Hiccup took care of him with his supply of Roman medicine and nursed him back to health.

A month later, Hakru finally got over his initial fright of dragons and his ingrained belief that they were devils. Hiccup showed Hakru how he befriended dragons using flamebreaths as examples. Hakru could not return to the village anymore unless he wanted to be killed, so he had to learn to coexist with these dragons if he were to survive in the woods.

A few months from then, Hakru found hunters around the edge of the forbidden woods. It was not seeing them that made Hakru fear, but surprisingly, that fact that they caught a baby flamebreath. In their beliefs, they suspected that these were the devil's unwanted spawns with ordinary dragons. The thought of the baby flamebreath being captured and possibly killed made Hakru feel stone cold.

Maybe it was Hiccup's teachings that dragons could be warm and loving creatures, or maybe it was the helpless and fearful look of the flamebreath baby. Hakru appeared right in front if these villagers and scared the hell out of them. Taking advantage of the stunned state of the couple of villager hunters, Hakru snatched the caged flamebreath and made off. Hiccup arrived just in time when Hakru and the flamebreath was cornered and captured, and knocked these villagers out.

After that, Hiccup took care of Blazedclimber through his hatchling months and left him with his newly-bonded brother.

Perhaps a bit selfishly, Hiccup was proud and relieved that Blazedclimber still remembered his scent. Hiccup had always been the baby Blazedclimber’s feeder before he left so Blazedclimber came to recognise Hiccup as his mother. Hiccup shyly liked that Blazedclimber remembered him as his mother and relied on Hiccup more than his bonded rider.

“Hey! Hey. Hey baby. Oh you still remember me, don't you? Good boy!” Hiccup hugged the now grown Blazedclimber around his neck and cuddled. The overexcited young dragon squawked and growled loudly and nuzzled Hiccup with his head.

“Oi! Climber! Stop stealing my friend, I haven't seen him for years too!” Hakru bickered with his mate. Blazedclimber seemed to understand Hakru's complain and hopped from Hiccup onto Hakru and knocked him into the wooden platform as revenge. Hiccup laughed loudly at their squabbles and Climber smacked Hakru even harder seeing that Hiccup was happy.

 

“Of course I will help you! But anything to stop those idiots from hunting dragons again. Blazedclimber lost another brother last month to those killers!”

Hiccup was baffled. Weren't they fearful of angering the devil? Why would they hunt dragons in the forest?

“How? Weren't they scared of the devil?” Besides, these people were not affected by the raids as no one knew they even existed. They did not have to hunt dragons on purpose.

“Apparently, after I appeared alive and we saved Climber, they started thinking dead tributes had reincarnated as dragons to take revenge on them as the devil spawns! They thought that was why I managed to stay alive, because the reincarnated flamebreaths were dead tributes that protected me from the devil. I can't believe how ridiculous they are! If they ever find Climber, I'm not even sure what I'll do.” Hakru grabbed his hair in frustration. “If the war ends, we can convince them that dragons are not devils nor are they reincarnated spirits, that dragons can be befriended and are intelligent. That'll make them realise how ridiculous their legends are!”

Hakru seemed to calm down after a while. “But... How can I help? You won't need me. I can ride Climber but we rarely fly.” Hakru and Blazedclimber lived and played within the woods. This was where they were most deadly. “Climber can’t even breathe fire!”

“Sorry, Hakru. I have few buddies that ride dragons in this archipelago that I could count on. I'm sorry to ask this. This mission is dangerous. We could be targeted by the whole archipelago if the my plan goes South. Even worse, we might have to kill the Red Death just by ourselves. You can say no, Hakru. I won't blame you.”

Hakru suddenly looked angry and he jumped onto his feet. Hiccup stood up with him. “Oi. I may not be that good with dragons but I am no coward! Climber may not fly fast, but he is the best when it comes to directions. He can remember the smallest details in the environment, even temperature and exposure to light.”

“And that why I need you.” Hiccup smiled warmly and patted Hakru on his shoulders. “Every dragon has his or her weaknesses and strengths. No being good at flying had never disadvantaged you, why would it now? Just like you said, Climber is the best in his own way. It will be dangerous, so it is your choice, but don't ever think you won't be helpful.”

Hakru nodded, he understood what Hiccup meant. “But first, before we leave, I need your help with something.”

Now Hiccup understood why he looked so troubled before.

“They are going to sacrifice another two people soon. I’ve been watching them. These two boys are barely teenagers! The last time they threw the tributes in the forest, I couldn’t save them and wild dragons attacked them. I didn’t even know they were holding the ceremony. I’ve been watching very closely these two years so I don’t miss it again. The boys will be sacrificed in 2 days. We need to save them without the village knowing.”

“Okay, I get it. I will have to wait till after they are thrown in the forest before saving them. If not the village might get another 2 tributes. And…” Hiccup’s eyes widened and he let out a smirk. “I know! I have an idea!”

In 2 days, the boys were literally dragged on the ground, into the forests close to midnight and tied up with ropes that were thick enough to hold dragons. Before reaching close to the deep part of the forest, the villager with stone-cold faces helped the tributes up. The tributes had their mouths stuffed and eyes blinded, and it was clear they were shivering. Hiccup’s teeth clenched at the sight. They had to be about 13. He was 15 when he was forced to join dragon training, but these thirteen-year-olds that they watched grow up were about to be heartlessly abandoned to die for the sake of a dumb tradition! Hiccup nodded at Hakru and rode Toothless off towards the village.

He landed Toothless silently close to the village. As told by Hakru, most of the villagers were kneeling outside their treehouses on their wide, rounded platforms praying to the moon. It would be midnight in a while and the tributes would be released into the woods with bells attached to them. The ringing getting softer was for the villagers releasing them to make sure they walked into the deep woods and not turn back, and ringing was also to remind the ‘devil’ it was mealtime and help ‘him’ find his meal. **Sick.**

Hiccup was wearing his black leather and scaled flight suit again, looking more demonic than the village’s legends’ descriptions. He climbed swiftly onto a low and empty platform and climbed his way to the treehouse of the Elder. It was the largest platform in the village centre, and empty. The elder was to oversee the sacrifice process in the woods.

Hiccup took out his red paint, made from the red leaves, and started painting scary images all over the elder’s walls! Then he drizzled nightmare oil on the floor, tracing the bloody image of a random Japanese crest, not that they would know! On the wooden floor outside of the house, he painted ‘Those who sacrificed others deserved death the most. This is a warning!’ It was probably large enough to be read from the sky.

By the time he finished, it was 10 minutes past midnight. Hakru arrived with Climber a moment later, still hanging on a nearby tree. Hakru unloaded the drugged boy from Climber and passed him to Hiccup, then passed Hiccup the next. Then, he passed Hiccup a very soft bag. The rings that were hung on the boys were all kept in the bag and muted with fabric. The elder would still be on his way back to the village now.

Hiccup released the boys from the ropes and fully undressed them. Then, he drew on their chest a common shape of the leaf of trees from the deeper part of the forest, and placed them neatly side by side at the door in front of the crest lined with nightmare oil, and waited.

 _Squeak. Squeak._ **They’re back. Time to show ‘em what is the true meaning of devil!**

The elder sighed when he finally returned to the village. **Another two perfectly good boys. Thankfully the parents this time round were coorperative.** The elder held their hands and comforted. “Your sons were brave. Their sacrifices are noble! We will all remember them by their heroics!” **Though they were unwilling.** The elder thought cynically.

By the time he was escorted to his house, he was tired from the hour of walking. They did have manual elevators installed so he didn’t have to climb but he could still complain of the walk, couldn’t he?

“AHHHH!” The scream from beside him shocked him out of breath. He was about to reprimand his apprentice when he noticed all the blood in front of his house! Then the doors of his house opened wide to reveal the two boys that were just sacrificed and thrown in the deep forest, naked on the floor! Then, behind their bodies, a circle of hell fire blazed and the devil appeared!

“Pathetic. Killing off your own to save yourself! Selfish and foolish humans!” The devil’s voice was so cold and rough. The devil wore a completely black suit. He had black sharp claws on his hands and his mask covered the bottom half of his face. His leather mask shined, reflecting the glow from the burning fire. The devil had blood red eyes and pure black hair. His demonic sneer sent shivers up the elder’s spine even though his mouth was covered. His obsidian hair was smooth and soft, his fringe hung down the right side of his face like spikes, and a thick, ugly-pink scar ran from his left hair line over his left eye down onto his left cheek.

The elder instantly fell to the ground and begged for mercy. His legs were too numb to even crawl! His followers dropped and begged along with him.

“Please! Spare us. Please! We will do whatever you say, anything! If the boys are not good enough, we have younger! We have more!”

“Pitiful! People like you that kill from your own deserve to die the most! This will be the last time I will tolerate your sacrifice nonsense!” Then the devil released a puff of green smoke from his hand and it burst into flames!

“The next time I have to pick up your children in my territory, I will spare NO ONE!” The devil’s right arm extended another arm length and it was on fire, and with a swift swipe, the arm sliced across the elder’s face and the fire burned into his flesh! “AHHHHHHHHH!” The elder screamed in agony and fainted. All praying villagers were startled out of their prayers by the painful yell.

With a turn, the devil disappeared into thin air, taking his hell-fire with him and the leaving a puff of blue smoke.

Elsewhere in the forest, two boys giggled into the night as they took off on their respective dragons, heading for the Boneguard islands. **That’ll teach them.**


	10. Lost

Astrid slowly opened her incredibly weary and heavy eyelids. The bright surroundings momentarily blinded her. **Calm skies. Cloudless.** Astrid failed to groan in pain and only managed a pained gasp. Her throat was as dry as sand paper. Could she even talk like this?

Astrid tried to move her hands up to support her body in sitting upright and realised her arms were numb and strengthless, and she felt sand under her hands. **Huh?** **Where am I? What happened?** Her mind was groggy and disoriented. She fought the urge to fall back unconscious and rest, albeit on the empty beach. The careless sight of the sea brought the nightmare from that night back to the front of her mind. She saw scenes of roaring waves, a lightning-clad form in the cursed skies, the dark abyss down under illuminated seawater and darkness eating her vision. The flashes from the past shocked her and made her flinch. Her eyes widened in fright and strength suddenly returned to her, enough for her to sit up and scan her surroundings. After her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she was shocked at seeing two bodies a distance from her.

She tried to stand up shakily but an intense dizzy spell hit her hard. When the swirling beneath her eyelids cleared, she was lying face-down on the sand, clearly fallen flat back onto the sandy ground. Astrid managed to stand up slowly this time and walk to the still bodies.

“Ruffnut! Snotlout! Wake up!” Astrid made sure they were still breathing. If they were alive, didn’t that mean the rest were likely all alive too? They needed to find them.

Ruffnut woke up easily with a shake of her shoulders, but Astrid had to spit a mouthful of seawater onto Snotlout’s snoring face to wake him. Too bad. Astrid wasn’t in a patient mood. “Let’s walk along this beach. I think the others are here too.” Astrid was right. They found everyone else a distance away on a secluded section of the beach blocked by a series of rock hills. They had to worry about the chief though. He wasn’t waking up after a while, and when he did, he complained of a pounding headache and he vomited, twice. He might have hit his head on something and gotten a concussion. Coupled with the fact that they had been soaking in cold water for some time without food or fluid intake, they were all in a much weaker state of health. “Let’s get closer to da forest. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, get a fire started. Astrid, Fishlegs, check around the beach for our things. Be careful, we don’t know what’s out here.” Gobber ordered as he supported Stoick under the first sturdy tree at the edge of the beach. At the mention of weapons, Astrid suddenly realised that they were all dressed in their underclothes without weapons. **We kept all the armour and weapons in the cabin when the storm happened. My axe!**

The stunned realisation that she had just lost her family heirloom left Astrid rooted to the ground. Fishlegs seemed to understand her horror, so did Gobber, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it. They watched the shock on her face change into shame and a multitude of other fleeting emotions like self-loath, sadness, regret, and bitterness. Astrid clenched her fist and resisted the urge to lash out. Fishlegs followed behind her quietly. Now would not be a good time to talk to her.

Call it good fortune, they actually did manage to find one bundle of clothes and a canteen, belonging to Tuffnut and Ruffnut. They returned to the group and saw that Stoick more alert than before. They had a fire going but Gobber was nowhere to be found.

“Chief, are you better?”

Stoick rubbed at his temple but reassured Astrid that he was better. “Gobber is looking for a water source and food right now. We are lucky none of us is suffering from hypothermia. We should be fine tomorrow after eating and drinking something. Have you seen any other people besides us on this beach?”

“We didn’t.” Astrid shook her head.

“No sign of human activity. Nor any sign of dragons.” Fishlegs added.

“I found a river somewhere further in the woods. Here’s a rabbit.” Gobber came back holding two rabbits by their ears. **Was Gobber good at hunting?** They went on hunting trips before but Gobber rarely mentored them. Even if he did come along, it was usually other adults that did the hunting. Guess they had the wrong impression that Gobber was _only_ good at smithing.

“Here’s a canteen, Gobber. Do you need help?”

“It’s alright. I can get the water. Did you find any weapons?”

Astrid shook her head, but Gobber did not expect them to. Any metal would have sunken to the bottom of the sea. He came back soon with the filled canteen and handed it to Stoick first. Astrid saw the he was also holding a fairly stiff branch that was the thickness of Stoick’s arm and long as Astrid’s height. It was comforting to know that Gobber’s prosthetic hand was not empty, but was a spear-like extension with a bent blade at the end. The two shared rabbits did little to quell their hunger so they awaited Gobber to finish his crude creation of sharp spears so they could hunt.

After that, Fishlegs volunteered to stay with the sleeping Stoick while the rest went to hunt. Gobber led them around the area and revised what they were taught about hunting. Light steps. Don’t startle your prey. Get into a good position from your target, and attack swiftly yet accurately. Unfortunately, his advices only went so far. “I believe in learning on the job.” He whispered while pushing the young Berkians out by themselves and went off to hunt by himself. The next time they met, Gobber had more captives than all the students had, combined.

Gobber watched the youths cook the food while Stoick rested. It felt like ages since he stopped playing the role of Stoick’s right-hand man.

They were once a respected best-friend duo on Berk. Gobber and Stoick never left each other’s sides and Gobber was actually as good as Stoick at anything, except for fighting since he’d lost two of his limbs. They worked perfectly together. Even after Stoick became the chief, Gobber was always the first person he would talk to, whether it was about familial matters or formal matters, and Gobber always lived up to the amount of trust Stoick had towards him. They might have less time to spend together as buddies as they aged, since Stoick was always busy with chieftain work and Gobber had to take charge of the forge after the old Smith retired, they still relied on each other for brotherhood. At least they used to.

At night, when the youngsters slept, Stoick and Gobber sat beside the fire.

“The wedding might’ve be over already by da time we get there, ya know? We dun know for sure how long had we drifted. Could be a day. Could be a week.”

Stoick gave a short sigh. “We will find the nearest village and ask. If we are really too late, we will still head there. Give our apologies in person.”

“Right.” The best friends sat quietly. This scene was utterly familiar to Gobber. When they were young, they used to go on hunting trips together very often. The nights were spent singing though. Memories rushed to the surface, but Gobber found no comfort in their private moment. Maybe it was the flickering glow from the campfire, or the coldness that screamed loss, that moment seemed to be dragging the memory of their missing child out. Was it nostalgia, or was Gobber just missing Hiccup?

_Hiccup threw their viking honour to the ground and trampled on it, when he tried to train a nightmare he was supposed to kill. Stoick rammed his hammer against the rail in an irrational moment. He wanted to pause the time, to stop everything Hiccup was trying to do in that moment. It was a by-product of his outrage, but dare he admit that selfishly, he wanted it to go wrong. Dragons could not be trained. They could not! He could not face Hiccup’s attempt at it, could not accept that there was the slightest possibility that those things could be trained. He did not want those possibilities to exist, so he did what he did, without consciously realising how much danger he put his son through. Hiccup cried so hard to get the cornering vikings to listen to him. Why wouldn’t they let him show them?_

_The chaos happened and ended with the reveal of their most feared dragon: the offspring of lightning and death._

_They chained the dragons. And Stoick grabbed Hiccup and threw him in the Great Hall. Why? WHY? ALL THESE TIME, A LIE? Why them? WHY?_

_‘They are not what we think they are! Toothless, he’s good. He cares about me. He could have killed me but he didn’t. Dad, do you see what this means? We don’t have to kil-‘_

_‘HOW COULD YOU!’ Hiccup looked stunned at Stoick’s outburst. ‘How could you? They took your mother. Why you…’_

_Hiccup looked guilty, but not for the reason Stoick thought. He was not sorry for loving Toothless and wanting peace. He was sorry for not being the son that his dad could be proud of. He was sorry that he was challenging everything his father believed in._

_‘Dad. Please. They raid us because they have to. Their queen forced them to raid us, so they could bring food back to feed her. They had no control.’_

_Stoick was expressionless but his mind was desperately replaying what Hiccup had just said. ‘You’ve been to the nest?’ Stoick gasped._

_Hiccup was shocked that he had said too much. ‘Did I say nest? No- dad- don’t think about it. You can’t. There’s another way to this! You don’t hav-’_

_‘Where is the nest? How do you find it!’ ‘Dad, please don’t. You can’t chase the queen away!’ ‘Hiccup. I’m giving you your last chance. Your dragon or the nest. Choose!’_

_Hiccup couldn’t answer and just teared silently, wishing, hoping, pleading that the nightmare would be over. He would wake up to that morning and_ JUST LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK. ** _Why did he ever think helping Berk was worth his and Toothless’ safety? It wasn’t._**

_'Dad. It's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen. Dad. PLEASE. I promise you that you can't win this one!'_

_Stoick looked at Hiccup with disgust, and rage, and turned to walk away. It’s the nightfury’s turn to pay!_

_'No... Dad... No... For once in your life, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!'_

_That night, Gobber and Stoick had a violent argument._

_‘Ya never listened to your boy! He actually trained the nightfury and flew on it. You need to give him a chance, Stoick! Think of what Valka would have done.’ Gobber advised exasperatedly._

_‘WHAT DO I LISTEN TO? They took her! They took her from me. There’s nothing Hiccup can do to change that! Does he even know what they took from this family? How could he possibly side with THOSE DEVILS?’ Stoick looked absolutely livid, but he had tear treks on his face and his eyes were swollen. ‘How could he? He’s our son… why…’ Stoick was sobbing by this point, but his eyes leaked resentment, anger and loneliness._

_That argument continued into the morning and took half the village to separate, and ended with Stoick’s announcement that Hiccup was to be disowned and banished should he give up information on how to get to the nest. He would be executed with Toothless otherwise. Stoick’s heart broke at Hiccup’s fate that he had sealed. The family Stoick had built was torn apart pieces by pieces. Hiccup was the last._

Gobber could remember that night clear as day, when he lost the heart to be picking up the pieces anymore. Hiccup was Stoick’s son, not his. Stoick needed to be the one caring for Hiccup and mend their relationship. There was only so much Gobber could do. But… the way Stoick was handling things. Gobber feared Stoick would not have a son to hold anymore.

He was frighteningly right. Hiccup was neither dead nor banished. He disappeared without a trace and most of his things were gone. It was as if he had never existed. The empty Hiccup-shaped hole left in Stoick and Gobber’s hearts was larger than they thought.

“Stoick. Do you miss ‘im?” Flickering sparkes that came from the campfire flew around them.

“Who?”

“You know who. We could have died that night in the storm, but Hiccup was the person that appeared in my mind when I thought I was dying for sure. Can you really die without seeing him again? I can’t.”

“That traitor would be executed if Berk ever gets our hands on him, why would I miss him… Get some sleep, Gobber. Tomorrow will be a long day.” Stoick was a viking of hard-headedness, stubborness, Gobber knew, but self-denial shouldn’t be one of them.


	11. Found

They walked through the woods in undispellable quietness. Even Snotlout stopped talking or complaining an hour back, and walked with a sour face. Fishlegs inwardly thanked Odin for that. They must have been walking for over eight hours, but at least Snotlout was off their backs.

The woods were not extremely thick, but the trees were tall, almost resembling rainforest trees, not that the Berkians would know what they were. Cold breezes kept seaming through the woods, causing the Berkians to shiver. There were few animals, like rabbits or squirrels, since most would be hiding out the Winter. The woods were fairly silent and the rustling of the leaves became the melody that occupied the silence. They followed the sun’s direction and headed West. Stoick walked in front and Gobber at the back, watching out for the young Berkians. They wondered why they haven’t crossed any village at all. They were deep in the woods and it didn’t seem like it would thin any time soon. The sunlight that filtered through the canopy layer was little, dimming their surroundings to dull colours.

The forest ground was thick with fallen leaves. The bunch moved through the late afternoon forest pretty obviously. The berries they had for lunch was not enough to power them through this long walk. Walking at the back just in front of Gobber, Tuffnut and Ruffnut talked with low and bored tones, but then Tuffnut heard it. A soft growl, but no footsteps. He stopped walking and waited to hear it again. Ruffnut and Gobber turned back to look at Tuffnut. “Heyyy, are you coming or not?” Ruffnut was impatient.

“Wait, I think I heard something.” A shadow emerged from behind Tuffnut. Ruffnut and Gobber’s expressions morphed into panic. Tuffnut turned slowly to face the drago- _dragons_ – there were six of them.

Stoick could hear whimpering from behind him. “Oh no.”

“ _Stoick!_ ” Gobber hissed as softly as possible to not startle the dragons. “A new breed.” Of course they were not stupid enough to think that they had seen every breed of dragons. Fishlegs launched into superficial observations. “Lar-large eyes p- p- popping out of eye sockets… and long ears – relies on seeing and hearing. Slim and flexible t- to move in dense forests. Sharp and long claws, an- and two sets of teeth – very aggressive in f- f- fighting! D _efinitely_ not a vegetarian!”

The Berk gang retreated slowly and realised they were backing to a stone wall that was still some distance behind them. The woods had no sign of thinning, and the dense undergrowth meant that they could not run very well. The dragons were almost half as big as adult nightmares, had on them tiny crystal scales that were largest on their neck, shrinking the further away from its neck. They would not outrun these dragons in the thick forest.

Stoick was betting that they didn’t breathe fire, since they live in dense forests. The dragons could still spit acid, poison, or breathe gas, and of course, bite. But the good thing was, this breed of dragons was small. Stoick forced himself to remain calm and spoke in a reassuring tone. “Gobber, we’ll take two each. The rest handle two. They are small, but we don’t know what they can do so instead of aiming for the wings and tails, aim for their mouth. Keep them shut, and hold them down until Gobber and I are done.” Easy. He and Gobber could break dragon necks easily, especially since these look so thin. People underestimate Gobber too frequently, but Stoick had faith in his old friend.

The dragons didn’t follow their eye sight when they spoke, barely reacted to them talking. Why is that? Usually the dragons they fought could understand when they were concocting plans, but these dragons didn’t seem to know what they were talking for. Must be a low-intelligence breed. Stoick put on his menacing face and directed two dragons with him, same with Gobber, but on the other side. The teens faced two remaining dragons.

They had trained together for years, even after graduating from dragon training. No matter how different they were, a battlefield was where they could work as one. Snotlout was still rash and a show-off, but he paid attention on their safety. Even though he argued he fought the best, most of the time Astrid took most of the kills, and he was okay with that. Somehow, along the way, competitiveness and jealousy was overruled by comradeship. They had family and friends dying every dragon raid, what was more important? Safety or glory? The twins actually fought with great sync. They were still idiotic, but it didn’t show in their fighting. Fishlegs could fight, could defend but not well, but they’ve come to appreciate his critical eye. Above all, they had build up a fair bit of trust in each other. How could they not, when they went through maturation together, as vikings, as warriors?

Snotlout took off his shirt, and so did Tuffnut. The girls moved about to maintain their hold on their attention. This was not the first time they had to face dragons without their weapons, first time in that environment though. They had to be careful not to trip over jutting roots or walk into trees. When one dragon charged at Astrid, she leaped over the dragon. Its mouth followed her and snapped the empty air she somersaulted over just a moment ago. While the girls made noise and distracted their attention, the boys jumped to their protruding mouths and tied their shirts around. The girls came over to help hold the dragons down too. When they looked around, Stoick and Gobber had knocked their dragons out too. _Phew, that went better than expected._

But that was not the end. From the direction then came from, heavy footsteps were loud in the undergrowth. Sounds of dry leaves being rushed and thick branches fattened were hard to ignore. Hell their complete attention were drawn to those sound that approached them rapidly. They had nowhere to hide since the stone wall was behind them.

Finally, the creature showed itself. While the previous dragons were half as big as nightmares, this thing was twice as _tall_ as the _wingspan_ of a nightmare! It looked exactky like the dragons from before, only it wasn’t thin or slim, it was very muscular. Its claws had a much deeper colour and was supposedly harder and sharper too. It had the same type of scales, and then it flipped them, all of them! A different combination of base colours gave it a completely different coat of colour, the change from vomit-yellow to poison green, starting from its head down to its tails and legs. Its eyes were observing them, assessing them, with hunger and bloodlust. It was intelligent, the matured version. _This breed of dragons is not small at all. They were the babies and this is the Mother._

Then it saw its precious children lying motionlessly on the ground and ROARED.

One swipe of its strong wings broke three trees right smack in the waist of the trunks, sent Gobber flying, and he contacted the uneven stone wall in a harsh impact. Hunger was gone from its eyes, dominated wholly by the bloodlust and rage. It pinned Astrid and Tuffnut helplessly into the ground with its claws and spit burning green acid at Stoick, but Stoick barely got away.

“Fishlegs! Snotlout!” Astrid called out just in time before another wave of acid descended upon the place they were just standing at a moment ago. Snotlout would have complained why was he last, but he did not even have the time to breathe before the ducked and rolled, avoiding a merciless swipe of its claws. Stoick punched it in the jaw, then it raised its head and stared unflinchingly at Stoick. Stoick met his gaze strongly, the last ounce of viking pride meant he would not back down, even at his last second, but the dragon did not see a unyielding man, it saw the prey that attacked its children. Its tail flung straight at Stoick but hit the stone wall and a couple of more trees. It spat, clawed, swiped, tackled, and its patience grew thin. Stoick’s breath got laboured. The teens supported Gobber up. That was where they were going to end?

The dragon was still agitated. It was going to make these puny humans food for its children. It hissed and a strange gas permeated their surroundings. The dense forest kept the gas in and wind out. It was a paralysing gas - the vikings slumped against trees, strengthless. They could not move, just in a hazy state of consciousness. Everything was in slow-motion, so calm and so foreign, like they were watching through thin glass.

They just lay there and watched for their end to come. Their last thought was that they did not have their weapons with them. They could not go to Valhalla. They shamed their family and ancestors, though for Stoick, what Hiccup did probably already doomed him, as the father, to hell. That last thought offered a bitter comfort, that he was going to see his deranged son again in hell. _Hiccup…_

Then time seemed to stop completely. They were looking at a dragon. Another dragon. He had deep obsidian scales, muscles rippling underneath smooth flesh and scales that were connected until they could not tell one scale from the other. Even without its high speed howling through the air, even without its plasma blasts, just with a buried memory from five years ago when vikings saw their breed for the first time thanks to a troublemaker-turned-traitor outcast, they recognised this breed of dragon. _Nightfury… the offspring of lightning and death… the devil’s reincarnate… the top of the mystery class that never shows itself and never misses…_

Fishlegs' eyes visibly bulged at recognising the black sleek dragon. “Is that... nightfury...” He whispered. Astrid caught a slight flinch from Stoic. Stoick went wide-eyed, nervously frowned and gritted his teeth. Gobber was… not noticing the dragon, nor motionless, but he was scanning the area as much as he could with his injury.

But, compared to the one years ago, this dragon in front of them was much larger and more muscular, its skin was pitch black but its scales were so much finer. This nightfury had a bulkier and longer body, its dragonic features was mature and developed. Its eyes were a deeper emerald green but the one with Hiccup years ago was yellowish-green.

It stood firm on its thick front and hind legs, its being practically emitted intimidation and domination. The threatened offender swiped at their protector with its long, crooked and most likely poisonous claws, but the nightfury deflected its attack easily, then _ROARED_. The nightfury pounced at the dragon and the dragon barely ducked in time. In its desperate attempt to avenge its children, then dragon swung its thorned tail (retractable thorns) at Stoick’s head. He could see the nightfury had yet to turn around.

It drew blood. Not from Stoick, but it happened inches from Stoick’s face. The tail slashed from the bottom left diagonally up at another protector. The blood of the protector splashed on Stoick’s face and stung his eyes, but through his blood-red vision, he saw… a man, the man that took the blow for Stoick with his body.

 

“Fuck! Toothless!” The man yelled in a foreign tongue to… the nightfury? The nightfury processed the sight that the man was hurt, and _bristled_. His pupils shrunk to the size of almost nothing then he started attacking frantically at the wild dragon.

**You hurt him! You hurt Hiccup!**

**Stop. Why are you defending the humans? You are one of US!**

**You hurt Hiccup. You have to _pay_!**

**They hurt my children. Hand over the vikings. I have nothing against the man you sworn yourself to.**

Toothless crouched low to the ground. The dragons growled and screeched interchangeably.

Hiccup made use of the time the dragons were focused on communicating and took care of the vikings. He made them smell the antidote he carries with him.

 

The wild man had auburn hair and wore a thick, tight leather suit that was fitted with deep black scales. He wore his black, scaled flight suit with a face mask that kept out the gas. He wore weapons on him like accessories, and his black leather jacket’s hood covered his hair and most of his face. His eyes gleamed animalistically from the shadows on his face, the green from his eyes looked too alive, like swirls of witchcraft was swimming in them. He squatted in front of the motionless vikings and helped them one by one.

As if anticipating the punch, he grabbed Snotlout’s wrist and twisted it almost hard enough to dislocate his arm, managing to bite back a pained moan from exerting his chest muscles. That slash was poisonous. He needed to treat himself soon lest he die of poison.

The two opposing dragons stood stiffly and motionlessly. Being so close to death, Astrid wondered why vikings ever thought all dragons were mindless killers when the intelligence in the dragons' eyes was unmistakable.  Then the communication ceased and they returned to a less agitated but much more determined round of tackles. The wild dragon was taller than the nightfury, but it was outmatched. The nightfury bit into its front leg and was rewarded with a painful roar.

Before he helped Stoick, he warned in fluent Norse. “Try something stupid like _stupid_ over there and I will have you die a worse death than what splithells can do to you.”

Stoick surprised that the man knew viking talk so well. He nodded numbly but then a wave of acid was spit in Astrid, Stoick and the man’s direction by the screaming wild dragon. “Acid!”

The man reacted to the warning calmly and swiftly like he feared nothing of even acid. Astrid, however, scrunched up her eyes in fear.

She opened her eyes in the subsequent calmness to stare into magnificent forest green eyes an inch from hers! For a second, those eyes seemed to show sympathy, but they immediately turned back wild and untamed. Astrid was pinned under the man and they, along with Stoick, were covered by a black cloak. The man's eyes seemed glow ancient in the darkness. That few seconds of peace was like hours to Astrid and she flinched in shock when the man jumped back suddenly. Astrid was stuck by the brightness but she quickly adjusted to the messy sight in front of her. 'What the...' she gasped breathlessly. The boy that protected her just now, now stood in front of all the youths and the cloak from before was thrown on the ground, with one side covered with burning acid. The acid burned the grass it came into contact with but did not react on the cloak. He saved them a second time.

They all stood up shakily and heard the man call out to them. “Follow Toothless. GO!”

The nightfury suddenly broke off its standoff with the wild dragon and ran off, and they followed right at his tail. The nightfury was noticeably running slowly so they could follow. It turned and jumped through the forest as if it was his childhood playground. It knew where to turn and where to duck, but its mind was with its rider.

Gobber’s panicked voice sounded out. “He’s not with us! That man!”

“What?” Stoick replied confused and he stopped after they landed from a jump over a high fallen tree trunk. That moment of hesitation brought the Berkians standing around in a circle and the nightfury already vanished in the undergrowth. “He saved us, we can’t leave him.” It seemed like the fact that their savior was a dragon sympathiser hadn’t catch up to their minds yet. viking loyalty was simple. Leave no man behind. Repay kindness (and avenge for misdoings) tenfold. The realisation that they had left the man who risked his own to save their life had them dumbly standing still, instead of running. Stoick’s gut twisted when he remembered that that man had taken a swipe for him.

Astrid was one of the last to follow and after the jump over the high blockage, she twisted her feet on landing. The first thing she realised on tripping and falling forward was the warmth that was exuded through the hard leather and scales. A black creature had appeared in front of her and cushioned her with its back. Her heart rate spiked seeing that she was leaning her whole weight on it and everyone stopped, looking.

The nightfury was beyond frustrated. He had turned back to check and realised they stopped following him and were screwing up their escape plan! He had to turn back and get them. **Darn!**

“YYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH” Astrid’s scream echoed in the forest around them.

“What’ar you yelling for?” The stranger jumped over the high blockage and almost flew into them, running into a scene slightly annoyed. His ex-crush was waving her hands around frantically while yelling. They had joked about him having a girly scream before, but seriously? She was screaming at nothing. The rest looked startled at her and Toothless. Hiccup felt protectiveness over Toothless wash over him. They saved their lives, what the hell was Astrid yelling at Toothless for?

“He- he- he touched me!” Astrid blushed when she realised how silly she sounded. Hiccup looked as unimpressed as he could be through his mask and helmet.

Then, “Why are you standing here?! Run!” He hissed. And motioned for them to follow him. Blue gas was continuously emitted from a cartridge he held.

Hiccup watched Astrid fall forward, this time round when she tried to move, and held her up by her forearm.

She blushed, and subsequently got angry. She was a strong warrior, not a damsel in distress. “I’m fine. Let me g-“

Astrid brought back his fifteen year worth of frustration at their stubbornness and infatuation with a strong and tough viking image.

He would not deal with this right now. No. Hiccup just grabbed her and threw her on top of Toothless, and they continued their escape. Hiccup maintained his fierce and frustrated appearance but laughed at Astrid’s expense internally. Somehow, flipping their roles around from the laughed-at to the laughing-at gave Hiccup a feeling of glee despite their situation.

“Your crippled!” Gobber’s observation stunned them. With how agile the man was, they had not noticed the metal prosthetic.

“Yeah? So?”

After ten more minutes of running, the stranger slowed down as they approached a cave entrance in the valley. The ceiling was low but the opening was wide, and it narrowed and darkened the deeper they went. He motioned for the nightfury to open its mouth, who did it reluctantly, and reached his hand into its mouth. The Berkians cringed at Black who extended his bare hand anywhere in between a dragon’s teeths.

Black fitted the gas emitting can between the nightfury’s teeth. “Go. Lead ‘em away.” The nightfury then ran away at lightning speed and disappeared among the trees instantly.

The man then unclasped a handle from its position on his pant leg, and with a click and a swoosh, it extended into a flaming sword.

“Coming or what?”

The Berkians followed in stunned silence and they could vaguely hear a whoosh outside the cave where a figure dashed past. The only sound detectable in the cave was the click-thud-click-thud of the man’s footsteps and the moist air filled their nostrils.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the very few of you that actually read this, I'm so incredibly grateful. Sorry for taking such a long break. I've just been really caught up with life and that's really not an excuse. I will definitely finish posting this fic asap ! :>


	12. Interaction

The Berkians were unsure of how to react. If they were initially hateful, fearful or cynical of the nightfury and the ‘dragon sympathiser’, they weren’t anymore, and that was deeply upsetting.

That meant that their whole culture that was built on the belief that dragons were mindless beasts, was hollow. Everything that they were taught was drifted further away from the reality they were experiencing. Everything they strived for was losing its meaning.

Stoick didn’t want to think further about the issue either, at least not now, not remember that he damned his son for being a dragon rider and now owed his life to another.

“Where are we going?” Stoick spoke up for everyone.

“Nowhere.”

That was not comforting in the least.

“The nightfury…”

“He will catch up.” “…is it yours?” They spoke simultaneously.

A memory flashed in Hiccup’s mind. **“…time you learn to fight dragons/ …don’t want to fight dragons.” Hiccup and Stoick spoke over each other the night before Hiccup joins dragon training and Stoick leaves to find the dragons’ nest.** Right. They were never good at this communication thing. Didn’t change a damn thing whether he changed his identity or not.

“Yes. He ‘is mine’.” Hiccup motioned with two fingers on each hand. “You’re all probably thinking of him as a pet or sorts but he is not a pet, not a property, so lose the ‘ _it_ ’, because he doesn’t deserve being called _it_ after he fucking saved your lives.”

A pause. “He’s a friend.”

The Berkians almost felt bad for offending the man, or the man’s _dragon-friend_ even though _he_ wasn’t even there. But, NO. He was a _dragon sympathiser_ , and _it_ was a dragon. This man would return to being a stranger, an enemy to them after they returned the favor they owed. And Berk always returned their favours, just so they would not owe anyone anything.

“You’re calling a _dragon_ , _friend_?” Snotlout had to question sceptically.

“Yes. I am. Pretty sure this is not the first you’re hearing this.”

Stoick and Gobber both let out a trembling breath. And Fishlegs looked suspicious.

Astrid gave a _tch_. She was still sore at being manhandled. She would get it back.

“Don’t act so surprised. Heard a viking brat messed around trying to get people to befriend dragons a couple of years ago, and got fucked by his own people. He’s still wanted for like 10 thousand silvers.”

The Berkian gang tried not to react to hearing Hiccup from another mouth, but where Stoick kept his pretense, Gobber didn’t.

Gobber spun the man around and fisted his collar. “Don’t speak of him that way. Don’t.”

Hiccup didn’t expect to be defended, and boy, he missed his mentor. His joy didn’t show but his heart ached. **Gobber… he dosen’t hate me!**

The man raised both his fists placatingly, and feels the vikings watching his right hand, the hand that still held the flaming sword, for any movement that might harm their village smith. “Alright. Sorry. No need to get angry, alright? I’m a dragon rider too, can’t really blame him for wanting what he wants. I wouldn’t want ta see people around me killing innocent dragons either.”

Gobber dropped the man, mixture of emotions swirling in his eyes that Hiccup had to force himself to look away from.

“Innocent? Yea, well they killed hundreds of us. And that’s just the Berkians, never mind _the whole archipelago_!” Astrid snapped.

“And we- vikings killed thousands of them. That’s _just_ the Berkians, ignoring _the whole archipelago_.” Damn. He almost said we. And now he looked like he knew Berk’s situation very well. So much for his fake identity.

Astrid was about to argue back but Hiccup continued. “Don’t bother with your speech. You guys kill dragons. I befriend dragons. I think that’s clear enough, so save your argument because I’ve heard them all before. Don’t bother preaching to me. Seriously, don’t bother. I ain’t wasting my time convincing you either.”

At his anger, the man launched into a coughing fit, and the Berkians saw blood spill on the ground. The man opened his left fist, the fist that was clutched at his stomach and it was stained red too, but dark-red.

“Damn. The poison is spreading faster than I thought…” He muttered.

“What poison?” Fishlegs asked, maybe out of concern, maybe out of curiosity.

“I took a bloody swipe for your leader, remember? The tail thorns had poison. It’s nothing. I know how to take care of it. Like most dragon venom, the cure is usually their saliva. I still have some left-over from last time.”

_Last time?! What does he do exactly? Test dragon venom for fun?_

Without warning, a whip slapped in front of them, but the man stepped in front and caught it with his sword, by letting the whip curl around it. The whip caught on fire from the sword, but didn’t burn, in the traditional sense. The fire from where the whip curls around the sword rapidly spread to the whip handle and illuminated the ambusher’s face.

“Why ARE you hitting me?”

“Hey! Don’t be a dick. I was aiming for those people. So they’re with you?”

“Are ya an idiot? Course they’re with me. Didn’t you see my fire?”

“Well, my bad then.” The second man casually clicked a switch on his whips, so without contact with the first man’s flaming sword, the whips extinguished by themselves. They walked around a turning point, and they were introduced to a sort of cavern with a crack in the ceiling that let moonlight shine through. They were in a sheltered area covered by two pieces of rock face. A man could easily slip through the crack between them and fall into this cavern. The second man sat and the ground and leaned back against… another dragon… The dragon was snoring loudly. He cracked an eye open to check when he smelled them, then went back to sleep and didn’t even acknowledge the vikings. He was that used to being in the presence of people.

‘You can call me Yostuk. This is Hakru, his flamebreath, Blazedclimber.’

He then pointed to the nightfury that just entered the shelter, and named it Toothless.

“Wow… This is a new breed?”

Hiccup laughed at his fascinated guest. “No, he is not ‘new’. You just never seen his kind before. I doubt you travel much. And it’s only polite if you introduce yourself too, ya know?”

Stoick pointed to each of them, and introduced himself as ‘Stoick, chief of Berk’.

“So…, Stoick the vast. Nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise…?” They exchanged an awkward handshake. For once, the young Berkians hear Stoick sounding unsure, but after the day’s events, there wasn’t much that can surprise them.

“Your leg...” Everyone’s attention was directed to the man’s leg, or lack thereof.

The man raised his leg, to the shock of those present, "Erh. Yeah. I'm crippled. Ta-da..." His swift and smooth movements would have fooled anyone. _How can he run so fast through uneven forest ground!_ Gobber was the most impressed. He knew how difficult it was to lost a part of your own body, to expect something there, but there wasn’t. It was a pain that you get used to, but never forget.

Hakru noticed Yostuk’s weird movement. “Oi! Got yourself hurt again didn’t ya? I swear. You are a serious masochist, can’t go one day without getting in trouble. What are you doing bringing a bunch of dragon-killing maniacs with you anyway?” Hakru complained while checking Hiccup over.

“It’s fine. Seventh bottle on the back-most pocket, on Toothless’ right.”

Hakru easily went over to Toothess and picked out the container of liquid.

“Just to be sure, anyone else got injured? Speak now or forever rest in peace.”

“Scratches here and there. We’re fine.”

Hiccup downed the whole container. “You should be safe to go out after a few hours or so. I’m still gonna have to make you swear though.”

“Swear?”

“Vikings, such as Berkians,” Hiccup gestured to the guests, “take vows very seriously. I just want to make sure none of you will try to mess with our dragons, and us.”

“What will you have us swear?”

“To never attack any of us. Me, Hakru, Climber and Toothless.”

“Then what if they attack us. Huh? We can’t defend ourselves?”

“They won’t, and frankly, I’d rather you suffer, than them.” The half-undressed Yostuk raised his flaming sword at Stoick swiftly. They did not expect it, and immediately, the sword was already at Stoick’s neck in the blink of an eye. The tense silence that followed reeked of shock, anger, and a whole lot of indignity. The dragon rider they’ve grown to trust was now pointing a sharp, flaming sword at their chief’s throat. The nightfury, the flamebreath and his friend didn’t even react.

“Just swear not to hurt the dragons here. Not even try. Don’t blame us because we’ve been through a shit-ton of shit with you vikings. I was that close to not bother risking mine and Toothless’ life to save your asses in the forest. You have no idea how much we had been through in the hands of dragon killers like you so I’m not taking chances. You people decapitate dragons for sport. Swear on your viking honour and your place in Valhalla that you WILL NOT try us.”

Any protest Stoick had was drowned out by that voice in his head which repeated over and over ‘we’ve been through a shit-ton of shit with you vikings… decapitate dragons for sport’. He did not know why he felt defensive. “We kill dragons to survive! They steal our food and kill our people! You think we want the raids to happen?!”

“I’m not saying you DO, but most of you don’t just try to drive them away. You aim to kill. Kill on sight, kill on sight… You think I don’t know what you teach your offsprings? I’m telling you, if the dragons driving the raid actually don’t just fight to disarm you or distract you, and actually ATTACK ONLY TO KILL YOU, the population of Berk would have hit zero long ago!”

Yostuk didn’t look mad, he just looked so… frustrated.

“Look. I’ve been to places before, helped people like I helped you but most of the time I get sold or I pay the price. I stopped taking chances with you vikings long ago. You Berkians are one of the most honourable viking clans out here, no compliment intended, so swear on your honour if you want us to trust you, if only for this few hours. You protect your own, I protect mine. I’m sure you can relate to that, chief Stoick.”

Stoick was out-reasoned. He wanted to deny. Wanted to justify. He didn’t know why his weapon-wielding hand rose and he swore. The others were surprised, but followed his lead.

True enough, Yostuk’s sword was lowered. He continued undressing and revealed the wound. It was not a clean wound. The edge of the two pieces of flesh on both sides of the cut was slightly folded upwards and a small slice of torn flesh was still attached at the end of the cut. It was not big, but not small either, about four inch long and half an inch wide, and was not deep but bloody.

It was dark in the corner he was sitting at so the Berkians could not see his face nor his body clearly. They only barely saw the wound due to his wet blood reflecting light from outside.

He emerged from the shadows when he redressed himself, not in the weird scaled suit. Just fitting pants, and a weird tunic. It was made from a usual rough tunic fabric, but with a hood and open all the way down through the front of the shirt. Leather straps was knotted at the bottom corners, then criss-crossed up to the collar of the upper-wear holding the tunic closed, then loosely tied at the nape, allowing the top of his chest to peek through under the crosses.

Like his outfit from before, it covered his face very well. He had on another mask. Not a gas mask, but a hard leather one, of two pieces stitched diagonally along the middle up towards his left eye. The mask fitted against the lower half of his face well, and the rest was hidden under the shadow of his hood.

Hiccup grabbed two shirts from his backpack and handed them over to Ruffnut. “She twisted her ankle right? You can help her. I would treat her but I doubt any of you would want me anywhere near the pretty girl.”

Astrid fumed. The Yostuk guy didn’t even address her by her name. **What’s his problem?** “Look, I’m not some dainty girl, so stop treating me like one! You do it!” Astrid grabbed the shirts from Ruffnut, effortlessly tearing them into strips and held them out to Hiccup, smugly.

“Well fine. Sorry for the unintended offense.” Yostuk complained audibly in a sarcastic tone.

  **Got’cha. Would you have let me help you if I didn’t spite you?**

Hiccup caught Fishlegs’ eye. Fishlegs had a thoughtful look, the same look back in the forest when Hiccup ignored Astrid’s tantrum when she sprained her leg, and just made her ride on Toothless. Hiccup hadn’t seen Fishlegs for years. Hiccup remembers that naïve and single-minded boy that loved knowledge, and still see fragments of him when he looked at Fishlegs, but years of travelling made him a very good judge of a person. Fishlegs was no doubt the most observant and questioning on of the Berkians, and now the sharpness in his gaze told Hiccup Fishlegs caught him. It wasn’t anything worth hiding or denying, so Hiccup just winked.

Fishlegs looked a bit startled. **Had he seen me watching? Impossible, he shouldn’t be able to see me looking at him. I am out of his range of sight. That wink – did he really manipulate Astrid into letting him bandage her leg? It seemed like he knew Astrid hated looking girly or weak and he handled Astrid very well like he knew how Astrid will react… Besides, he didn’t have to take up Astrid’s challenge to bandage her if he didn’t want to. It only makes sense for him to do it if that was what he was aiming for… And even though he acts so arrogant and self-assured, there was no reason for him to bait Astrid like that. And the wink! That was a suggestion that he really did successfully messed with Astrid, didn’t he?**

“Alright. You guys can stay here overnight. It’s dark outside already so it will be dangerous, especially since the splithells are on high alert. But Hakru and I are leaving soon so you’ll have to take care of yourself.”

“Wait. You’re not staying?” Gobber immediately asked.

“Yeah…? I have a nightfury so it’s safer for me to fly in the night.”

“But we are… lost…” Stoick wondered why Gobber insisted on having this man’s help. Granted he saved them, and then tried to kill them, but still deserved a thanks and reward for his bravery. Still Gobber seemed really anxious. Gobber signalled with Stoick with his eyes.

Stoick sighed and continued, “We have somewhere to be so if we cannot get out of this forest by tomorrow morning, we’ll be late.”

“No, you won’t. If you reach the next village the next day morning, and they DO have a shipyard, you can get to the wedding on the day itself.” **Again! Does he know everything about us?!** “And before you question me, I know where you are going because you are beyond obvious. Stoick the vast in Boneguard territory for no reason. Anyone would assume you are invited to the Boneguard wedding. We are not far from the Boned Gulf so you can just head west. I’m sure you’ll reach on time.”

Yostuk wasn’t leaving any room for argument.

He headed back to Toothless and totally snuggled up to the fire spitting dragon. He sat right into the curl that was the nightfury and hung his arms over the reptile’s torso while rubbing his face on his scales and whining. The sight would have been adorable, if only in the place of an actual pet was sprawling a ferocious beast.

The Berkians looked incredulous at the one hundred and eighty degrees personality change. 

“Ignore him. They are like practically cross-species mated. They sleep together, share their food and fly everywhere together. Tch. I can’t imagine having to look after this brat the whole day.” He gestured to his live cushion. Then his red-scaded skinny dragon bit BIT ONTO HIS ARM.

Snotlout yelped.

The skin wasn’t torn. Hakru started bickering with the dragon that could very well bite his hand off with one chomp. “Hey, I ain’t gonna lie for the sake of your silly pride alright. Beside, you’re the one that always running off from me!”

By then, Yostuk was effectively bringing Toothless into ecstasy by his scratching. After the jaws and the head, he just popped onto the nightfury’s back and it plomped onto the ground, purring LOUDLY.

They made it seem so normal, to live alongside a dragon, to talk to a dragon like it understands them, to love a dragon…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: Hey all! The author, MaybeinAutumn is currently overseas having the time of her life without wifi thus she will not be able to reply to commentsfor the next 2 weeks. Her trusty old pal here has hacked into her account and will be updating the next juicy ass chapters that she has already written. That is all! Thanks for showing love for her fic. ✧٩(の❛ᴗ❛ の)۶ 
> 
> See you next week! (•̀ᴗ•́)و


	13. There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back in Singapore :)) Haha, don't know if my friend mentioned but she helped me upload the previous chapter. Much thanks to Joan! (hugs)

Sometime in the night, the Berkians fell asleep. It gave Stoick the fright of his life when he woke up, realising that he actually fell asleep in a foreign environment with two dragons and two dragon-tamers as roommates. A quick look around showed that the Berkians were the only occupants of the place, however. The dragon-crew left no indication of them ever being there, except from the black scorch mark on the ground. It was all like an ancient and alien dream.

The youngsters were still asleep, closer to the walls, bundled up in a pile to ward off the midnight chills. And Gobber, he- wasn’t in the cave?

Stoick stood up in too sudden a motion, and stumbled due to the dizzy spell that followed. A distant memory of his son carrying a bowl of soup in through his room door surfaced. _**Dad, you’re not**_ ** _supposed to stand up like this…_** ** _fever…_**

The voice only faded with his efforts to suppress the memory.

Seeing that they were alone, Stoick felt more relieved, but also slightly disappointed that he still owed those men.

“You’re up, Stoick.” Gobber walked into the cavern. “Ye must be tired. Ye nid more rest.”

Stoick frowned and walked over to help Gobber with his catch. “What about you? You were hurt during the attack yesterday.”

“Aye, that was a mean toss, but it ain’t serious. Just bruises here ‘n there.” Stoick was sure there would be swelling, but he was ore sure that Gobber could take care of himself well. “Get those youngsters up, will’ya?”

Stoick nodded and got the rest up. Everyone must have been exhausted from the days. Tiresome sea journey, storm, drowning, being stranded, walking continuously, surviving a dragon attack, then having to deal with two dragon riders and two dragons… Stoick had to feel pride in the youngsters he took with him. They all have their shortcomings but he was now certain that they were tough. Tough enough to go through what they never had to handle and still hold themselves together without cracking.

Astrid was pissed that she had not gotten to prove herself before that guy. She remembered his name, but she refused to call him by anything other than ‘that guy’. She was not usually so petty, but he really riled her up. Who would even dare to thrown her? The memory of him doing precisely that still angered her even now.

After the simple meal, they set off again. The man said they weren’t far. They hoped he was right. And he was.

They arrived at bustling marketplace soon. Snotlout was frenzied, herding the whole group towards the first food stall he saw, but they had no money. In exchange for the meal, the owner agreed to have a bit of help with reading letters from Fishlegs, and help with washing dishes from the rest, instead of reporting them and having them punished. They ought to be thankful, that the port receives enough outsiders for people there to be so tolerant with people that ate without money on them. They see people from everywhere: traders, fugitives, bounty hunters, sailors… A couple of penniless freeloaders were nothing to sneeze at. Stoick might look much buffer than most, but they were in the Barbaric archipelago. Stoick was only slightly more than the standard tough-viking image.

Immediately after the lunch fiasco, Gobber sought the local blacksmith to earn some weapons the same way. Though Stoick had no skills to offer, he had his blunt strength. They had agreed that the rest would earn food, money, and also a boat ride to the Boneguard mainland.

Stoick was surprised at how quickly they’d adjusted to the ways of the well-connected town, especially the few of them that always complained. Here, labour was something anyone could offer in exchange for what they need. He supposed that after these testing few days, they were humbled. And some of them happened to have more to offer: Fishlegs with his scholarly knowledge and Gobber with his smithing. The rest of them… could fight…?

From the smithing window, he could see bartering salesmen, negotiating traders, travellers seeking directions. The bustling port was like Berk during peak season, yet also not. Berk was less… invigorated. Back at home, Stoick saw new stock, foreign goods, but here, they could see life. A variety of them from everywhere.

The sea breeze that caressed their person carried a mixture of exoticism and _freedom_.

Stoick ducked his head when walking through the doorway into the smithing room habitually, and belatedly realised the ceiling was at least two feet higher than his head. The feeling of small-ness was striking, but not unpleasant.

Astrid walked amongst the crowd in the open market. Then, a catchy and joyous melody caught her attention. The tune was fast and dynamic, the beat was upbeat. Walking towards the music, she wandered into a circle of people, surrounding two men and a girl looking to be close to 30. They held a rounded and hollow wooden instrument with strings tightened along a long and thin piece of wood that extended from the hollow body. The plucking fingers were nimble and smooth, much like their movement and the sound produced. People from the crowd danced freely along to the tune, and laughter were shared between strangers, Some of them not even of the same ethnicity. The woman dancing in the middle had her hair down, eyes closed in her own universe and her half-exposed but not scantily-clad body swayed and twirled to the music.

Astrid let slip a breathy exhale, and the twinkle in her eyes was blinding.

Snotlout walked around for a long time. He was not lost, he was just… exploring… He heard voices then, and stuck an ear out. “… a big round mass! Not a square! Can you believe it?”

Snotlout did not understand a thing, and crept closer to the avid listeners sitting around a woman. It was like the conference Stoick held once in a while with his council.

“…horse appeared outside the city of Troy. They didn’t know what to do with it! Was it left behind? Was it a gift? The horse was tall and large, so what did they do? They brought it into the city. And that was the downfall of Troy. The Greek soldiers that hid within the structure took the city from within…”

Snotlout wasn’t thinking anymore. The tales and words that flowed out of the teacher’s mouth captivated him.

“…bore Horus, the god of the sky! And she was the wife to Osiris, the god of the underworld, also her brother. And then there was Seth! The god of chaos~~~”

Hours passed with the speed of light.

“…called it the ‘ji narn jun”, the amazing gadget that could be used to tell North from South on a cloudy night without fail!”

“…Alexander from Macedonia was taught by the philosopher Aristotle, the man I mentioned yesterday. He took over his father, King Philips, when he was just 20, and went on to conquer the Persian Empire, and tried to invade India. He died by poison shortly after however, and…”

The boy was cute, madam Yao thought. The extra listener pleased her a lot. The boy had his mouth wide open and his captivated eyes swimming with wonder. She would do her best to interest him in knowledge of the wide world then. Knowledge was a gift that should be celebrated by more. And plus, he almost reminded her of her student from years ago, a boy with insatiable curiosity and wit.

When they finally met up at the pre-decided location by the local port, Snotlout was the first one waiting there, but he was staring thoughtfully into space. The twins played into the scene, making noise and arguments but they did not seem to disturb Snotlout in the slightest. Astrid appeared soon after, humming?! When Fishlegs arrived, Snotlout appeared almost too eager to talk to him, but not before snatching the book Fishlegs had in his arms.

“Wait, Snotlout, don’t take the book. I had to teach for the whole afternoon for the trader to give me this.” Fishlegs hoped Snotlout would not throw his book into water again, like he always did, but to his surprise, Snotlout opened the book and started squinting. Fishlegs let out a pained groan. “You can’t read. Can you give it back?” Snotlout pouted when Fishlegs took the book from his, and he resolved to sneak it over to read again. And he would learn to read. He would! But he had to wait until after the trip – he did not want to mess up his tough reputation with the others…

Astrid could not care less for their stupid arguments though. When Stoick and Gobber appeared, she reported that one merchant was willing to carry them to the Boneguard mainland on his goods shipment the next morning for a cheap fee of 2 silver pieces. They settled on the hard ground and waited until they could get a good rest on the ship the next day.

And when she spotted Snotlout sneakily flipping through the book the next night of the sea journey, she did not comment anything and thought he was trying to prank Fishlegs.

After two days and a night of sea travel, they were all lethargic and restless. The urge to drop right where they stood and sleep fought with the need to _move_ and get their blood flowing. It was only one day left until the wedding.

At first glance, the Boneguard city was already incredibly prosperous. The buildings were mainly made of dark bricks and stones, and some where super tall, or at least were considered so by vikings then. Astrid never imagined the sight to be so… unimaginable. Now she felt bad for all of her predecessors that never got a chance to step foot off of Berkain soil. Foreign trinklets were always a source of intrigue for them, standing out from many accessories. But now, they were everywhere. As the ship neared the docks brimming with flashing lights, the _fortress_ captured the attention of everyone onboard. Astrid understood that Berk could not compare, only because of their geological locations. Berk was one of the closest viking land to the dragons’ nest, and had over three times more dragon attacks than Boneguard. However, another reason she had not considered was a tribe that was eager in establishing diplomatic relationships, so while Berk was best in its battle strength, Boneguard was the centre of trade and commerce.

As the main Boneguard town where more political activities and dragon trainings were centered, this town experienced less traffic compared to other towns that were good trading hubs, but it was still significant. They could already see the vibrant lights from the marketplace in the night. Stepping onto the port, Stoick was struck by the amount of decorations and preparations arranged for the wedding. A lot of thought was put into this. Actually, ‘a lot’ was an understatement. This scale was more like a victory celebration, or an invasion send-off. Stoick had no idea how close he was to the correct answer.

They bid farewell to their host, and climbed the steps to the main street. Stoick doubted it was appropriate to intrude on Furlan this late at night, and they decided to choose an inn to settle down in. The further from the town centre, the cheaper the rent, right?

Without much of a second thought, they walked into an inn on the outskirts of the small town, and were met with loud bellowing of drunk men huddled together, drinking in the cavern. The walls must be good with keeping out sound, as the street outside was as silent as ever

“How many, sir?” It was then that they realised they were still standing in the doorway of the inn cum cavern.

Stoick was struggling to convince himself to stay at such a… crude establishment so Gobber spoke in his stead. “Three rooms should be enuff.”

Stoick and Gobber eyed each other, conversing silently.

**This place does not look safe, Gobber. We should find-**

**Lighten’ up, Stoick. Good to let the kids experience a bit, eh? They won’t get this on Berk, and besides, we’re just staying upstairs.**

**We don’t know what people do here. Drink cavern with built-in rooms, what happens when people get drunk? You tell me.**

**You see any girls around here? They’re all guys.**

That earned silence from Gobber.

“Hey, where’s the money?” Snotlout looked at Tuffnut dumbly. “I thought you were holding the money?” Tuffnut returned. “You bought that band!” “You bought the rice cake!” “I returned the money pouch!” “You didn’t!”

Turned out, Snotlout was pickpocketed. The Berkians didn’t want to ask to help out in exchange for one night of rest, seeing that the place was really messed up-looking. They were going to leave, but Gobber noticed something. Someone. A boy with red hair that looked darker under the dim lights sat at the bar, nursing a mug of alcohol. That thought was surprising, remembering this boy’s wild appearance back then and someone that young and wild (he rode a dragon) shouldn’t fit in easily with people in general. But in the dim cavern of drunkedness and escape, from the stress and realities, he seemed to have his own place. He looked entirely too comfortable with his back turned to enraged drunken men, but to put things in perspective, he did slept next to dragons regularly. Judging the other drinkers (or non-drinkers) in the cavern, Stoick could maybe understand that everyone here shared something similar. They all had their own problems, heartache and fear. The bellowing and ranting men had tear tracks on their faces. The man silently drinking in the corner held a letter, crumpled in his hand. The drink mixer looked at his customers with the sort of softness reserved for mother upon her child, teacher upon his student and healer upon his tribesmen. It was also the same softness Hiccup had looked at his night fury with, Gobber remembered. Just maybe, this was also a place for healing.

Stoick wondered if he could get the location of the nearest (legitimate) inn.

Gobber wondered if he could get the location of that mysteriously familiar companion.

The same mysteriously familiar companion that just walked into the cavern and now stood with them in the doorway.

“You made it.” He noticed.

“Why are you here?” Stoick frowned in suspicion.

“Pfft. I was heading here. I even got here two whole days earlier than you folks… Relax, I really didn’t follow you.” The change in position was not noticed by Hiccup. He was too busy getting irritated. It was ironic that the person who faced most less-than-friendly annoyance directed at him, was now the person being annoyed easily.

“Are you staying here?”

“We ran out of money.”

Hiccup didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Not much due to how they treated him before, but more due to the fact that being recognised would jeopardise his mission, and also cause him and Toothless danger. He didn’t not know why he went up to the counter and set 10 silver pieces down. Maybe because he knew how difficult it was being outside home. He had to leave home with next to nothing and survive on his own, learn the ways of the world on his own, and protect his own for the last 5 years.

“I can pay for your room, but only for one room and only for one night.” **They’ll manage.** Hiccup thought easily.

The stunned Berkians watched the retreating man’s back. Fishlegs could not help but feel a bit of hero-worship for the man that paid for all their boardings, who seemed to be not much older than them but already more than capable of supporting himself in his travels. How old was he again?

Ruffnut felt a bit more than hero-worship. Unlike the rest of their group, she really wanted to take that mask down and see how handsome the stranger was for herself.

Astrid, Tuffnut and Snotlout felt indignant.

Stoick was guarded and suspicious.

Gobber really wanted to talk to him.

But none of them acted on their thoughts and emotions. They quickly found their room on the second floor and settled down to sleep, so they could put these series of unexpected events behind them, and return back to their intended places tomorrow.

They fitted into this place of escapism pretty well.


	14. Game Changer

Weeks of preparations, only for this day. Time passed in the blink of an eye.

He had received word a few days ago that Chief Furlan refused audience with Chief Barmad, in fact he hadn’t shown himself for two weeks leading up to today, his son’s wedding.

Through these two days in Boneguard, Hiccup had investigated the whole town, and where Chief Furan stayed. He had even disguised himself to chat up the chief’s son. Hiccup could bet that none of the locals nor the chief’s son knew what the Chief was planning. Normal guards patrolled as usual, but the higher-ranking ones did not. They were constantly passing secret messages, and gatherings were called ever so often. Eavesdropping at a particular meeting, Hiccup heard “…ips are constantly maintained. A good supply of weapons are ready but armours need another week. No dragon attacks are estimated to happen within three weeks… most clans have arrived but Chief Stoick from Berk had not shown up yet...missing the Bog Burglars and Meatheads. Must be playing the big cards by arriving later.”

Seemed like Chief Furlan was confident his plan would succeed. He must think what awaited him at the end of all these was fame, honour and respect. But Hiccup knew very well it would be death by the Red Death and shame for his whole tribe, IF they were not cleanly wiped out.

After that, Hiccup was terribly anxious. He could not reach Furlan, so he targeted his son. It took a mere one try to successfully lift the man, off to the other side of the island and give him a good talking to.

_“Where’s your father?”_

_“Who are you?! Don’t even think about hurting… Wait. You’re that foreigner from yesterday! I can’t believe you are someone like this! You’re a dragon sympathiser!” Hiccup waved off Toothless so the boy (barely eighteen) in front of him would stop freaking out so bad._

_“I’ll be honest with you. Do you know what your father is planning? He has something to be achieved with your wedding.”_

_“What are you trying to do? If you are playing tricks…”_

_“I am not the one playing tricks. Do you know ships are being prepped? You see crates of armour and weapons being loaded around? Your father wants to use your wedding as an excuse to gather all major clans and force them into another alliance to take the dragons’ nest. And believe me, somehow, he found it.”_

_Hiccup didn’t give him any chance to speak._

_“But that is not the problem. The problem is, that on the dragon island is something he will not be expecting. There is a queen dragon the size of the town, not taking into account the wingspan or tail. Your father will bring the whole archipelago to its death!”_

_“Why should I believe you?”_

_Hiccup gave a tired huff. “I ride a dragon for Thor’s sake. I’ve been on the island myself.”_

_“How do I know you’re not lying? How do I know you’re not just saying this to protect the dragons in the nest? I can’t believe you!”_

_Good point. Hiccup is wearing a very sinister-looking suit and stating out-of-mind facts._

_“Yes. I am a dragon rider. I want to protect dragons but I was born a viking too. I just want to stop this war, and I’m not about to let the greatest dragon-viking clash happen, not if I can help it. I am protecting the dragons that are enslaved by the red death, but I am protecting vikings too. I need you to convince your father to not do this. You may not believe me, but hearing this, can you really let your father risk himself, your tribe and many innocent lives for nothing?”_

_The boy looked scared, but he didn’t want to believe what Hiccup had thrown at him._

_“Please. Convince your father.”_

_As Hiccup watched the boy run off, he knew that the boy would talk to his father, and there was no way his father would listen to him. It was clear enough to Hiccup that the ambitious chief would not listen to his timid boy, the same way his own tough father never listened to his weak son either. But it was still good to get the idea into his head. Maybe then, when Hiccup finally gotten to talk to him, he would be more ready to listen?_

It was today. He would interrupt the chief’s proposal and expose everything in front of everyone. Including Berkians and the Coaberus people that will be present. Hiccup felt a cold stone in his gut. It wasn’t nervousness. But he had a bad feeling and an intimate sense of desperation. If this failed, Hiccup knew he would challenge the Red Death himself before the archipelago. If he could kill it or at least wound it, then he might be able to prevent the viking massacre that will happen, even if he might end up becoming another viking life at the Red Death’s feet. He really hoped it would not come to that – he didn’t want Toothless to be hurt.

He sat at the bar stool overnight and was still drinking from his half full, half empty mug. The liquor was replaced by tea since a few hours ago. It was then when the Berkians stepped down the stairs and noticed him in his original position at the bar. Like always, Gobber looked at him with an inquisitive and thoughtful look. Stoick narrowed his eyes. Yea, well, he stopped hoping his father would like him a long time ago so that didn’t bother him at all.

Astrid walked up to him and ordered liquor, and challenged him impulsively. “See who downs the mug faster. You’ve been drinking the whole night so you have the half-mug while I drink the full one. Deal?”

“Do you know what you’re asking?” Hiccup was biting his tongue so he would not bust out in laughter.

“What? Being a coward?”

Hiccup raised his eyebrow at her companions, all didn’t look bothered or surprised at her challenge.

“Sure. You call the start.”

“3…2…1…Start.”

“Hiccup finished the mug in two mouthfuls, and Astrid looked at him wide-eyed. She’d only managed three sips.

Gobber spoke up with a bemused look. “I’m afraid you lost, Astrid. The man finished half a mug of tea before you finished a full mug of liquor. Good job, my boy.” Gobber patted Hiccup on his back, and Hiccup internally cheered that he didn’t even flinch. He used to fall over from that. Hiccup also cheered for the fact that he didn’t cry at hearing ‘my boy’ from Gobber.

“What…?”

Astrid looked dumbfounded, and Hiccup raised the mug to her nose so she could smell the tea. “You offered. You didn’t say I have to drink liquor too. I thought it was fair since you said I drank liquor for the whole night.” Hiccup was grinning cheekily. He only wore his hood in the dim bar so they could see the bright from his eyes and his mouth and chin.

“I welcome a rematch any other night.” Hiccup said as he paid the server for both himself and Astrid. Astrid remained rooted until Hiccup disappeared upstairs.

Upstairs, Hiccup heard Astrid’s frustrated ARGHHHHHH! And giggled to himself. **Time for a nap before the ultimatum.** Hiccup climbed into bed and clutched tightly onto his sleeping pal, Hakru.

Bright torches were lit the moment the sun fully set. Coloured veils were made into floating lanterns so the colourful lights filled the night sky. Boneguard was not big on music, so the ceremony noise consisted solely of cheering and howlings. As the bride and groom made their way to the ancestral hall hand in hand, Chief Stoick and the rest of the Berkians stood to one side of the pathway and formed part of the well-wishing crowd. Having met up with other Berkians that set off later, Berkians now had a rough number of about 25 people. Amongst the crowd, they could spot Bog Burglars (the only female-dominated tribe), Meatheads (obnoxious crowd) and even Berserkers. Only the Outcasts were absent. Word was that they were not here not because they were not invited as they were outcasted, but because they turned down the invitation.

After they couple paid respect to the Boneguard ancestors and said their vows in front of all witnesses, the party was directed to the large main hall. One pair of eyes, well-shadowed, narrowed upon the sight that the groom followed after his father fearfully, and Chief Furlan glared at his son, then scanned the crowds guardedly.

In the hall, the Chief sat in the centremost seat on the platform, while the newly-wed couple sat to his side together. All guests were invited to help themselves to the liquor and meat, but guards were sharper than ever. There were more guards than was originally arranged, the groom knew that much in the least. This over-reaction, together with the fact that his father gave him a harsh scolding the night before his wedding, told him that what the stranger informed him was true to a certain extent. He did not know what to do. His father didn’t listen to him. Anything he said, the guards obeyed, but his father’s words held the most power. He couldn’t even get some information out of their mouths, without his father’s acknowledgement. He looked over to the girl beside him.

The girl had her head down low and it was only then that he realised her hand had been trembling. An ache to hold and dote on the petite figure beside him assaulted his mind, so he held her hand tighter and gave her silent support. That’s right, it might be just a ceremony to him, or a ploy on his father’s part, but this girl had offered her person in exchange for his care and love. The overwhelming need to protect the girl from whatever was planned completely overshadowed his anxiety with himself. The hand he had in his palm started feeling pleasantly familiar. He wouldn’t mind holding that hand for the lifetime to come.

“Guests, may I have your attention.” His father addressed the slightly tipsy crowd. The Berkians that had set off earlier didn’t touch any liquor, unlike the other guests, as they felt too tired from the days’ events to even enjoy the mead. The guards closed the heavy doors so their chief did not have to shout. The Chief only started his speech when they made sure all and only the distinguished guests from various clans were all in the hall, so there wasn’t any purpose in having the doors remain open.

“Today, marks the day I gain a daughter, and it marks the day my son, become a man! I am proud to have all of you with me, to witness this coming of age, this milestone of my son and daughter-in-law’s lives. I wish them a married life filled with love, bliss and contentment.”

Just when everyone got ready to clap, Chief Furlan continued.

“But, for that to happen, we have a common enemy that MUST to be driven away – the dragons.”

The direction his speech was heading in befuddled the guests. The Berkians wondered what could he be driving at. For many decades, Berkians were the tribe eagerly searching for the nest, pushing for people to join them in the expeditions. They didn’t know Boneguards were this…passionate? Even passionate enough to be mentioning this at the wedding of their heir.

However, to the groom, and an uninvited guest resting on the ceiling beams, the unexpected elements of the speech was grimly anticipated.

“How many of you have looked at your loved ones before a raid sets in, and PRAYED every single time that that will not be the last time you are seeing them? How many of you have watched your wife, husband, child, grandchild be taken from you before your very eyes.”

The whole hall missed Stoick’s looks of horror and hurt at the chief’s sharp words. How could he not know that feeling like your world was being torn down one slice at a time, him being torn apart one nerve by another?

“How many more times can you allow demonic claws to sink into the centre of your world, before you lose the will to hope again? What about the person you wake up thinking of, and go to sleep thinking of, is constantly in your mind all the time. What if you lose that half of you?”

Tuffnut hadn’t realised he was gripping Ruffnut’s hand in a vice grip. Ruffnut hadn’t either. Her hand was made such that Tuffnut’s fit perfectly with hers when they interlaced their fingers. For once, they were paying attention to a speech, something that only happened once in a blue moon.

“When I look at my children over there, complete and in love, I want to spare them the pain. And I know the way. For years, the only thing we gained from voyages to find the nest is only disappointment and loss. Most are close to giving up, but that is not the case now! Because we have the way! We investigated for months secretly, and now, we can take the nest, once and for all! For loss and love. For fear and honour. For our scarred past, and hopeful future of our children… Can you join me in protecting our family?”

Fishlegs looked around the hall and saw angry looks, sympathetic looks, determined looks and _hopeful_ looks. He didn’t know why he felt so scared of what this promised.

“One attempt. Not alone like we have done in the past, but together. The power of thousands of vikings. More than enough raw power to crumble mountains!”

“Count us in.” Meatheads, the ones that were impulsive, ambitious and more honour-obsessed than Berkians could ever be.

But they were also one of the largest viking tribes. With their consent, several other smaller tribes volunteered.

With every hand raised, Furlan’s smile became wider, and he masked it under joy and gratitude. The groom watched the scene like a dream foretold had become reality.

Eventually, what was left was Berk and the Berserkers. Berserkers were strong, but they didn’t mix with others. Berk, however… Stoick could only see expectant eyes.

That was right, as long as Boneguards could produce proof that they knew the way, this would be their last search ever. And even if it failed, the party was so large that there was no way they would lose anywhere close to the usual number they did on searches. This was by far the largest number gathered ever, and it would take another hundred years before anyone could gather this many people again. More than anything else, he just hated the sight of another brother lying out cold in a coffin. Most of the time they didn’t even get a body to fill the coffin with. He wanted the days of blaming himself, the chief, for the death of his tribesmen to end. He wanted others to have their family close until they die, unlike him.

Stoick shut his eye and raised his right hand solemnly.

“Stop.”

The game changer appeared in the form of a young man that dropped down from the… what? Ceiling?


	15. Deal or No Deal

“Stop. Don’t raise your hand, Stoick.” The boy that descended from nowhere turned around and looked Stoick dead in the eye. Stoick was spellbound. He could not summon any strength to move or speak. All he could see was the pair of forest green eyes that captured his whole field of vision. When the boy turned back around abruptly to face Furlan, Stoick stumbled as his world bled into clarity again.

Those eyes…

“You are not supposed to be here, boy.” Furlan eyed the man in front of him. He was dressed in simple rough black tunic with a hood up. A long broadsword hung on his back, the fine smith work could be admired from miles away. The man did not show his face, but it mattered not to Furlan.

“Here to wish the newly-weds well, good sir.” The man answered smoothly. “And your speech, may I say, was extremely inspiring. I wonder what exactly back those claim of yours though, that you know the way to the dragons’ nest?”

“What business is it of yours? I can have you thrown out right now, so leave while I am being polite.” More of the Berkians recognised the boy as their savoir from days ago. Why do they see him everywhere?

“Your politeness has my gratitude, but I’m sure your guests are interested too. How did you find the way? Most of the archipelago is already present in this hall, so I’m sure whatever you planned to tell them will be widely known in matters of hours, so there’s no way that there is something to hide, is there?”

To his credit, Furlan looked completely unaffected.

“Tie a dragon to the mast and let him lead the voyage. It worked when I tried it.” Stoick’s eyes widened. **All these years, the answer was a simple as-**

“No you didn’t. If you’d reached the nest you wouldn’t be planning this stupidity.” Hiccup returned frankly. The man’s direct insult to the chief had guests bristling in anger. “You are leading people not to salvation, but to doom.”

“And how would you know? I haven’t been to the nest, you say. Have you?” For some reason, Stoick, Gobber and Fishlegs paid their fullest attention on the man.

“I know what’s there. That’s enough reason for me to step in.”

Hiccup did not confirm, not deny.

“And why would we trust you? You’re not even showing your face! You’ve said nothing of who you are, where you came from, what exactly lies in the nest, nor why you have broken into this private gathering to insult me. Don’t think I am not aware. No incoming ship could prove your entry and the few days you’ve been here, you have been asking around about my family and our private matters, and you kidnapped my son to spout nonsense to him! Why in the world would we trust you?!”

“Because this.” Hiccup promptly detached his sword from his back, not even responding to the gasps and sounds of weapons unsheathed, and threw the heavy sword on the ground in front of him. Hiccup raised his open palms. “You don’t have to trust me. I’m not the one asking you to risk your lives, but think about it. Even at the beginning of this war, records stated that dragons only stole food. Why had they never taken our ancestors instead, when we haven’t learnt to defend ourselves from dragons. Even now, dragons could survive well without human flesh at all, and most of them live on a fish diet. Why go to the trouble of raiding us when they have other sources of food? Secondly, there used to be empty lands closest to the nest. Why have they never expanded the nest? Why is it that the dragons in raids are only a select few breed, while other breeds that live on other islands are not part of the nest. Thirdly, the nest is surrounded by mist, and the sea sticks form a labyrinth. When ships are disoriented and trapped, the dragons attack. Yet, none of the raiding breeds can breathe that sort of gas, and much enough to maintain the thickness over three hundred years. What is breathing the gas, and to protect what?”

The mysteries were unanswered by the crowd. Hiccup continued: “There is a queen dragon.”

The hall went from tense silence to murmurings quickly enough. Most vikings looked incredulous. A flash of recognition lit up in Stoick’s mind. Years ago in the great hall, right before Hiccup was disowned and exiled, his son said something about a dragon queen on their island too. He had forgotten that slip up, until this day.

“She controls the raiding dragons, and makes them get food for her. If they don’t they will be eaten themselves, and most likely, that was the way things were before vikings came here.” Stoick’s mouth widened as the man continued. “They cohabit the nest and they feed the queen while she protects them with the mist. The queen controls them, commands their loyalty so they cannot escape, and when vikings came and domesticated animals, we became the perfect target. The nest never expanded because there is only one queen, only one dragon that could produce the mist, to protect itself and its slaves. The other breeds of dragons only appeared in the region as people moved further North, so they were never part of the queen’s nest.”

Hiccup addressed the whole crowd, but he was secretly observing Furlan’s expressions. Furlan did not react suspiciously, only giving disbelieving looks.

“How can you prove this?”

“Then how can Chief Furlan prove that the nest is safe to take? He is the chief, but I’m the one that willingly disarmed myself in a roomful of dragon killers.” Hiccup spoke with as much sincerity as he could muster. Another thing that stood out, beside the fact that he disarmed himself, was that this lean man was crippled. His prosthetic clicked every time he moved. “Think abou-”

“ _Yes_ ,” Chief Furlan’s word was out of place. And then Hiccup’s efforts went to shit. “but considering you are a dragon rider yourself, I don’t think you disarming is worth much, _Hiccup Horrendous the Third_.” The Chief gritted his teeth, looking at Hiccup like he was a pest.

The guests gasped in shock, some of them turning around to check Stoick’s reaction, but all Stoick could do was look at the man. **My son…?** Memories stirred in his head. Stoick’s emotions could not catch up to the untimely reveal. As if instinctually, a voice in Stoick’s head condemned, disapprovingly and disappointedly that this man was protecting the dragons’ nest, just like his traitor of a son did years ago. The voice cried **why will he never learn?! Why does he always choose the dragons’ side?! Why does it have to be HICCUP?!** But the voice fell to the background. Stoick never thought he would ever see his and Valka’s love child again. Stoick stumbled closer mechanically, he wanted to see for himself if it is really his boy…

Hiccup thought his ribs would break with how hard his heart was hammering. This was it. He had expected it might happen. Three guards rushed to his side and stabbed him, or would have, but Hiccup somersaulted lightly over them. He grabbed the fingers of one man from behind his back and twisted it hard. He kicked this guard over the second one and with two fast jabs at their pulse points, with his middle knuckle raised and pointed, the two guards fell unconscious. The third guard launched a straight and powerful punch, but Hiccup pulled his extended arm forward and kicked his shin, on the foot where his balance relied on, and watched the man tumble.

His display of fighting skills finally hammered in the fact in Berkians’ mind that the man that had saved them countless times was their _Hiccup the Useless_. Even hearing the nickname in their minds brought fear that the actual Hiccup standing in front of them right now would hear the insult and turn in their direction.

Chief Furlan halted the rest of the rushing guards. The man took down three guards effortlessly with techniques they had never seen in their lives. No use to prove his guards’ inadequacy more times than necessary.

When Hiccup straightened himself, his hood fell, and light caught on his bright eyes.

“You knew who I was… Heh.” Hiccup laughed coldly. “Of course. You watched me and investigated me from the moment I stepped foot onto Boneguard soil. Your son was just a set-up and revealed my dragon, not only to him, but you also. I played right into your hands. If my friend and dragon were not capable enough, you would have already had them captured to use against me, wouldn’t you?” Furlan gripped his sword tightly, this boy straightened out his efforts so easily like his plotting were child’s play. It was as if everything were expectable and obvious, despite the fact that he fell for it.

“I don’t understand what you are talking about. My brothers! This is the man that tried to deceive us! He was the exiled heir to Berk, Stoick the Vast’s disowned son, now here to seek revenge on us vikings when he was the one who chose a viking over us, here to shame his people!” All the Berkians tensed up. **Was it really Hiccup? He’s still alive? How can _Hiccup the useless_ do anything to save himself? ** Then they remembered what this man in front of them was trying to do. **He’s still on the dragons’ side!** Their frustration and anger at Hiccup years ago rushed back.

To Furlan, this was his best and last hand. He thought the identity of this mysterious force that threatened his plans was his best bet at crushing this threat completely. But it didn’t happen so.

The vikings in the hall all raised their weapons, and poised to attack the weaponless boy. Hiccup made no move to retrieve his weapon. He heard, felt Toothless, when he came. The explosion on the side wall of the hall shocked proud and unrelenting men to their asses. The shrieks of _Nightfury!_ was comforting to Hiccup and his brother. Toothless had blasted a plasma blast to the side of the wall of the hall and left a hole twice his height, enough for him to emerge into the hall, through the black smoke. He had been on the rooftop the whole time, and he’d had enough of the insults they were throwing at his beloved rider!

Hiccup didn’t even blink despite the explosion, his eye-contact with the guests never wavered. “Am I? AM I? You want to know how I know what I know? I’m a **_dragon-rider_**! Assuming your idea that dragons can lead you to the nest is right, I would have been in and out of the nest easily ten times, hundred times! The Red Death is the size of Berk and it will swallow the lot of your in one bite, so can Toothless in one blast! If I have hated vikings as much as I should have, none of you would be alive right now!” Hiccup walked over to his sword and threw it up by placing his feet under the handle. He grabbed it mid-air using his left hand and walked over to Chief Furlan.

“You played well, but you forgot one detail. I’m not here to make people like me. I’m here to stop the lot of you from committing _mass suicide_ , and if I can’t do it by logic, I can do it by force. Your choice!” Hiccup was angered, and he revealed a sword handle hidden on his back in the hood, and by pressing a mechanism, a flaming sword burst out of the handle. He pointed it at the Chief’s throat, his left blade hung heavily on his left side.

Between the two blades, Hiccup truly looked fearless and undaunted, even without his usual scary leather suit.

The hall was engulfed in an atmosphere such that even gulping felt dangerous. That amount of fear was inexplicable.

Berkians however, looked at the man, all too familiar, all too distant. Disbelief, yet uneasy. Their exiled heir. Now holding the Chief of Boneguard at knifepoint.

Hiccup got tired of threatening the Chief, so he turned around to address the crowd again. The flinches and fear he saw from them was pleasing. He did not avoid Berkians’ eyes. He was here to convince them to drop the idea. Not to seek approval, not like there was any to seek. He was not related to Berk in any way.

“The Red Death, I didn’t make it up. It’s real, and it’s real deadly. I’m saying this because thousands of lives are too many to waste in this. To stop the raids, there’s another way. Learn to befriend dragons, fight alongside them, protect each other. They can help you defend your homes, and when people are good enough, challenge the red Death on equal terms. Fire blast to fire blast, flight to flight, size to numbers. There’s another way. Toothless and I are proof that this is possible.”

“So are we.” Hakru led Climber into the hall.

The mind-fucking almost got too great at seeing another dragon rider pair. vikings’ mouths could not open wider.

“We’re not all. There are others. Down in China, East in Japan, West in Rome, North deeper into the snowy region. Friendship with dragons was never a dream in the first place. It has been a reality long before me.”

“I have a deal. Two months. Give me a tribe, a village or even a man and I will teach him what I can, and in the meantime, forget the alliance. You can treat me however you want, like enemy, friend, prisoner, but give me two months, and I will prove that it works.”

He hopped lightly onto the offspring of lightning and death with practised ease, and as an afterthought, “I want your answers by sunrise. Depending on what you choose, your prepped boats might survive, or they might all be sunken by tomorrow noon.”

The nightfury and the other dragon flew off.

The rest of the village not in the hall continued sleeping on, too drunk on sleeping drug that was in their toasts, to be aware of the earth-shattering event that happened right at their doorsteps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I need to say this before hand. 
> 
> I am thinking of adding titles to all the chapters all the way from chapter 1 and for future chapters. I really hope it is unnecessary for me to even worry about this, because I really hope I'm not going to end up spamming your inboxes with 'updates'... in any case, I'll probably be adding the titles sometime next week or with the next chapter update just take note yea~~


	16. Reacquaintance

“Is he really your son?” Another viking asked him. He hadn’t been alert enough to see who asked it, only nodding. He’d seen the masked man’s face, and he would never forget it. The forest green eyes looked much tamer than days ago in the forest.

Stoick felt like throwing up.

The vikings present discussed their options. “He wouldn’t let this proceed. Either way, the invasion wouldn’t happen, at least not in 2 months.”

“Is there really no way of capturing him? Or killing him?”

Gobber took a step forward with fury in his eyes, but Stoick held him back. Stoick, himself, shivered. The years of being alone, no family, no wife, no son had taken a toll on him. He couldn’t stomach the thought of killing Hiccup, even though that man was no more than a stranger in Hiccup’s body now.

“He has a nightfury. And by the looks of it, he knows many other dragon-tamers. What if they take revenge?”

“So what?! We’re dragon-killers!” But most of them knew very well they were severely outmatched. They would fight for honours’ sake but they knew there were faster dragons out there, stronger ones, and ones with more powerful blasts. That exotic dragon that walked before them just now was proof of the limitations of their knowledge. If it wasn’t for that Hiccup guy, none of them would have even seen a nightfury before. Dared they risk it?

“What if what he’s saying is true? That there’s a queen. That we can tame dragons to fight her. He won’t let us off otherwise, might as well give it a try.”

Chief Furlan had left the hall for some time already, and when he returned, he looked surprisingly calmer and more reassured than before.

“Alright, we have to try it. But he’s dangerous. He has a nightfury on his side and we all saw him fight, but we don’t know what he’s capable of.” Never had any of the Berkians think anyone would describe _Hiccup the Useless_ as strong… “Stoick. Will it be safer for you to volunteer as you know _your_ son’s weaknesses better, or will it be more dangerous, since _your_ son might hate you?”

Stoick heard what he was asking. Reemphasizing that the man was his son, Furlan was making him volunteer.

Stoick looked at the other Berkians, most of whom turned away, as if saying ‘Don’t ask me, you should decide.’ And some looked at him sympathetically. They hated that boy that brought shame to them, but they’d seen instances of the Chief’s mask cracking. He was their good chief. They could only imagine what the chief had gone through, knowing Stoick lost the love of his life, and then his beloved son, both to dragons. And most of all, they trusted Stoick, that he would never do anything that jeopardise Berk’s safety.

But what Stoick was seeking from them was not approval like they thought, but perspectives, opinions. Anything so he’d know if that was a good idea, because he could hardly separate his thoughts right now. What gave his strength, though, was Gobber’s hand that clasped his shoulder. Gobber had the same regret and longing in his eyes, as that day when they announced that Hiccup escaped. But Gobber wasn’t asking anything of him.

Stoick breathed easier.

Agreeing to it will give the rest of the vikings a peace of mind. Disagreeing will…

Before Stoick contemplated that, he caught Furlan’s eyes.

What if Furlan turned against him? They was the perfect opportunity to ruin Berk’s image. He’d have the chance to push the blame onto Berk, and eager to avoid being the volunteer, the rest of the tribes would surely push for Berk to be volunteered. Of course, he didn’t know the Boneguard clan well, but Furlan’s actions only proved that he was a pretty cunning man.

Fishlegs whispered to Stoick. “Agree to it, chief. That man, Hiccup, saved us before. I don’t think he’d hurt us. If this really works, Berk would be the first to have the dragon on our side. If this doesn’t, any of them would push the blame on Hiccup and implicate Berk. But if Hiccup was with us, we would be the ones doing the accusing. Besides, no other clans would agree, and the arrow would return to us eventually.”

In this roomful of viking leaders that all subtly shifted away from him and looked at Berkians, it was essentially deal with all of them, or deal with Hiccup.

So Stoick gave in.

When Hiccup returned during sunrise, the vikings awaited him at the docks. Many who was asleep when the confrontation happened were bewildered and didn’t know how to react. The And above all, it was strange to see the nightfury silhouette against the bright orange sky. When had anyone ever seen a nightfury in the daytime?

“So how?”

Berkians stood in the front of the group of people with Furlan, and they flinched and retreated a step or two when Hiccup came into view. Stoick and the others recognised the suit. Black leather, scales… the witty green eyes of the dragon and its rider all focused on Stoick. Stoick gulped loudly.

Hiccup wasn’t trying to be scary though. He just wanted to be prepared in case he was flying into a trap. And he was wondering why they made Stoick stand in front…

“We agree. Berk volunteered.”

It was odd how boyish the previously intimidating man looked with his wide eyes and clueless face. But that was the first time the Berkians saw their clumsy heir in the man.

“What, really? Boy, you’re treating me more seriously than I expected. Thought you’ll throw me a boy and get me off your back.”

Was Hiccup actually looking… _thrilled_? Hiccup was happy, because then at least he would make sure Berk was not part of this insanity, and without Berk’s strength, the expedition just became that much more unlikely.

Stoick gathered all the strength he had to not trip. He wasn’t weak in the knees, at least not until Hiccup hopped off of Toothless and stood not to Stoick’s chest anymore, but to Stoick’s nose.

Stoick put on his burdened face, because that was the only face he knew how to present Hiccup with. Yet, he was the one that felt uneasy inside.

“We have terms. You and your dragon are not to attack any of the Berkians.”

“We’re not there to fight, sir.”

“You will be treated as a prisoner, and you cannot be out of your cell after sunset and before sunrise.”

Hiccup didn’t respond to his treatment. He really didn’t expect much anyway. But, “What about Toothless?”

“He remains in the cell.”

“No.” The firm no tensed all the vikings present. “He goes wherever I goes. With me. At all times.”

“We are making the terms-“

“And I am refusing them. Toothless stays with me, and I will put a knife in whoever’s throat that lays a finger on my dragon, clear?”

Stoick was reminded of that night in the cavern when this man pointed a flaming sword at his throat.

“Deal.” Gobber interrupted Stoick. “Same terms apply for your friend.”

“Oh, ouh, he’s not coming. Just me and my bud.” The dragon snuggled at to his palm from behind. Stoick forced himself to remain still and not react. Now that they had another two months at least, Hakru would be better off gathering his friends so if Hiccup needed, they would be there to help.

“Okay, you will travel with us at noon, and for the duration of the travel, two people must always be watching you.”

The Berkian ship was the first ship they’d sent off. Hiccup internally giggled at how infuriated Chief Furlan looked when Hiccup waved goodbye to his son as if they were good friends. And the heir waved back amicably, which frustrated the chief more. Hiccup could recognise all the adults on the ship, and he did not let their suspicious glances and prolonged judgemental looks affect him.

“Er, you, Hic-, er-“ Fishlegs nervously began.

“You can still call me Yostuk, you know? Its fine if you want me to go by Hiccup too, whatever makes you comfortable.”

Fishlegs gulped but still could not meet his childhood ex-friend’s eyes.

“You s-stay in the cellar. We have to…” Fishlegs trailed off as he held up heavy chains from behind him.

“Hmm. And the royal treatment starts, huh? Why are you the one?”

How could Fishlegs tell Hiccup that most of the adult Berkians decided to properly ignore him, and everyone else were too suspicious to come close to him? Gobber and Stoick had yet to come out of their rooms.

Suddenly, the ship was untied and pushed away from the dock, and the ship gave a huge jolt. Fishlegs lose balance and fell forward, but Hiccup cushioned him well, by wrapping his arms around Fishlegs. He had not expect Fishlegs’ weight to plummel him into the wooden floor boards. “Oooofff!”

Hearing the noise, Berkians around the ship rushed to the back deck, not believing that Hiccup might attack their Fishlegs. But they were met with a comical sight. Fishlegs was sprawled face down over Hiccup, trying to right himself and get up but his hands kept slipping on the watery surface. His body weight had Hiccup choking and whining, and as Fishlegs’ hands slipped again, Hiccup once again, had his breath knocked out. “Oh-my-godforsaken-thorrr-in-the-mother-of-the-“ He squeaked out. Fishlegs kept apologising while suffocating Hiccup with his chest. “Oh my thor… Fishlegs! It’s only been f-five years! Why the hell are you so much heavieeeeer-” Hiccup felt his soul being squeezed out of him.

The deck started to leak tentative laughter, even from the Berkians that resolved to give Hiccup his silent treatment. But they shut themselves up when a nightfury growl was heard.

The nightfury that was on the front deck glided over the cabin and stared down at the EVIL BERKIANS TRYING TO MURDER HIS RIDER!!

The Berkians recognised the narrowing of his eye and his act of folding down, gathering blue glow in his mouth. Stoick gasped, “no.” They quickly ducked and ran.

“No, Toothless! Stop.” Hiccup’s frail hand emerged from under the pile, his palm wide open, signalling halt.

“Fishlegs, please get off of me before he decides to incinerate you.” Hiccup squeaked out.

Finally, people went on to help Fishlegs up from his rest on Hiccup. They could see two beads of tear on Hiccup’s eyelashes, as Hiccup curled around himself and clutched his stomach.

The nightfury didn’t even care about anyone else. ~~It~~ , no, he – they mentally corrected themselves - whined pitifully as he nosed his rider that was moaning softly on the ground.

_HICCUP, are you alright? Hiccup~~_

“Urhh. I’m fine.” Hiccup sat up while moaning. Fishlegs was freaking out. “I’m SORRY, OH THOR ARE YOU OKAY OF COURSE YOURE NOT IM SO SORRYRYRYYESYRYR”

“Bud, I don’t think I can scratch you tonight. I’ll… probably be bedridden for tonight…” Hiccup caressed the dragon’s head lovingly, with wide, teary and adorable eyes, but Toothless was mostly immune to his tricks, and whacked him behind his head with his tailfin. “Hey! Your brother is victimised here, and what do you do? You _whack_ him.” Hiccup pouted and side-eyed his dragon. The dragon rolled his eyes and lazily paddled off. “Oi!” Then Hiccup muttered, “good for nothing reptile…scratches…don’t give a fuck…”

The Berkians was shocked at the oh-so-human reactions of the nightfury… was it normal for Hiccup? Their reactions resembled best friends and brothers so much.

Hiccup dusted himself off, and checked his prosthetic, drawing everyone’s attention from the nightfury to his metal peg-leg.

Without his armour, Hiccup was only donned in his usual hooded tunic and pants. The naked sight of a boy they watched grow up taking his prosthetic leg off to check on it, then reattaching it would haunt their minds. Hiccup had lost his leg. Sometime after he left Berk, he went through something that caused him to have his leg cut off. They remembered the nights when one of their own cried and screamed at the pain of amputation.

Stoick felt like vomiting again. Gobber, more than him.

Hiccup’s movements were always smooth and light, and people often forget that he had only one leg.

“Stop apologising, Fishlegs. I’m fine. Watch yourself next time alright? I don’t think my ribs are ready for this…” Hiccup rubbed his chest jokingly.

Hiccup walked over to the side and picked up the chains.

He chained his hands himself without letting loose a hint of disgruntlement or anger.

“Here. Check if it’s tight enough.” Stoick’s heart twisted painfully at the sight, so he turned away.

After Fishlegs chained him, the nightfury joined them – less people flinched at his appearance now – and Hiccup gestured to the trap door of the cellar. “Lead the way.”

Gobber placed his hand on Fishlegs’ shoulder when he started to move. “I’ll do it. Get some rest.” Gobber led Hiccup away from Stoick and the others, and Hiccup noticed his presense shaded him as if shielding him from the watching eyes.

When they were alone, Hiccup looked at Gobber’s back silently. His teacher’s frame looked exhausted. It must’ve been hard for him these few days.

“Hiccup.” Hiccup wouldn’t have heard him had he not been paying close attention to his surroundings.

“Yea.”

Yes. It was him. It was Hiccup. The confirmation brought relief to both of them. Yes. He finally got to see Gobber after so long. He missed him so much.

Gobber still had yet to turn around, but as Gobber stopped walking, Hiccup saw Gobber’s shoulders tremble. Hiccup gritted his teeth as a single tear slid down his cheek. They didn’t look at each other, but Gobber turned around and embraced Hiccup tightly.

“Sorry, Gobber.”

“Aye, kid.” Gobber let Hiccup go and ruffled his hair adoringly.

His apprentice looked so different. Yet in those little actions, Gobber still saw Hiccup, the same old Hiccup. He was caring, inventive, curious and intuitive. But Gobber also saw a man with many scars. That broke Gobber’s heart a little. Gobber found it hard to see the boy that never stopped trying to prove himself. He was siding publicly with their greatest enemy. There really wasn’t much he could say now, and Hiccup didn’t even seem to care how they saw him. Going back to Berk was not going home to Hiccup anymore, it was consented imprisonment.

Gobber wondered how much Hiccup actually trusted them. Did he even accept all these treatment because of trust? No. That was a stupid consideration. Of course not. Hiccup used to trust them. But that was 5 years ago or even before that. Maybe Hiccup’s confidence in them had been wearing thinner for years, and Toothless, the dragon was called, was the last straw.

Gobber recalled that day when ‘Yostuk’ risked his safety to help them. He really hoped it was because Hiccup still cared about them very much, but remembering how content Hiccup looked when he was exchanging looks with Toothless, Gobber could not even delude himself.

Yet, this man that had visibly been through great pain hugged him like the young Hiccup they thought they knew. This was what he had been desperately praying for all these years, another chance with Hiccup. Now that the man he was afraid he would never see again was there with him, Gobber could not be more thankful.

They sat against the wall together, Gobber’s left arm set experimentally over Hiccup’s shoulder, to see if they were really comfortable like the past. “How ye been, Hiccup?”

“Went a few places, made a few friends, eaten other delicious fruits. Not bad.” Hiccup closed his eyes and sunk into Gobber’s support. How things have changed. He wasn’t seeking comfort after being rejected by his father again. He just missed his ex-mentor a lot.

“Your leg.”

“I was poisoned. Toothless bit it off, and I had help from some guy… It’s complicated. I was only half-conscious when it happened.” Gobber subconsciously tightened his hold around Hiccup. Dragon bite was the worst way to lose your limb to, and Hiccup wasn’t even fully unconscious when it happened?

“Toothless… why Toothless?” The name was odd.

**Ah, there it goes.** Anyone who was acquainted with them would always ask this. “You remember before I was gone, during dragon training? I always asked weird questions about night furies?”

“Ah, yes. That was when you found him eh?

“Yea. I found out a lot of things from him. Toothless’ set of retractable teeth was one of them. I tried to feed him fish but was caught up with his mouth, all empty gums and tongue, until his teeth shot out and almost bit my hands off. Heheh. I started calling him Toothless as a joke to tease him, then the name stuck.”

Gobber nodded slowly. He wanted to ask more about their encounters. They really did sound fascinating. Gobber never would imagine himself sitting peacefully with a night fury in the room either, but he had years to make his decision, and he knew if he ever got a chance at redemption, he wouldn’t forsake Hiccup’s side anymore.

Still, he would hold the questions about Toothless for some other time.

“I looked at your sword, your armour.”

Hiccup turned to face Gobber curiously.

“Hell of a work, I tell ya. Spent the whole day lookin’ and I ain’t got an idea how you made them.”

They giggled together.

“Tell me what’s going on Hiccup.” _I promise I’ll believe you._

And Hiccup told Gobber. He took out the gruesome and more terrifying things though, but focused on the Red Death.

“There has to be something that’s going on with Chief Furlan.” Hiccup shared. “His information for how to get the nest must have come from somewhere, and he was too self-assured that it will work. Hell he started suspecting things once Chief Barmad requested an audience with him. That’s legit paranoia.”

“So he knew how to get to the nest but not the Red Death?”

Hiccup looked at the ground intently in thought. “My guess is he didn’t discover it by accident. Someone told him, and they have something planned. And I have a feeling things are much more than what we can see. Bigger than vikings and dragons. Bigger than this 300 year old war.”

Hiccup turned his eyes onto Gobber. His eyes gleamed eerily. These were the eyes he had seen in their village elder before. Gobber sensed that Hiccup was no mere boy anymore. He was gifted with something. His time away had molded him, not just into the man he was promised, but…

“I’m thinking… Furlan might be m-”

The trap door rattled, and then Astrid looked inside. She startled Gobber from his questions, and Hiccup from his careful sharing.

“Gobber, its dinner time.” Astrid looked momentarily shocked at realising the proximity with which Hiccup and Gobber sat, and the fact that Gobber looked completely relaxed with a nightfury two feet from him.

Gobber wanted to wave her off very much, but the usually easy-going man reminded himself that staying with Hiccup for too long by themselves would arouse doubt on himself. He would have to speak up on Hiccup’s side sooner or later, so impartiality was something he should not lose. Gobber let out a sigh. He had his apprentice back. That was what mattered and questions can wait.

“I’ll be back soon, Hiccup.”

Hiccup smiled his genuine smile to Gobber, and Astrid vaguely remembered it from a long time ago, when Hiccup used his smile for something else other than to hide his true emotions. “I think you should get some rest instead, Gobber. You look terrible.”

“So do you, toothpick.”

When Astrid came down to pass him his dinner, Astrid seemed to want to ask something, but swallowed her question and went back out.

Hiccup carried out his bed-time ritual of scratching Toothless, not knowing it freaked the whole ship out to hear a nightfury _purring_ thunderously at night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my A level results last Friday, guys... Anyone wants to cry with me? D:


	17. Company

Hiccup was still not used to sleeping at night, since he usually travelled at night and slept during the day. Hiccup had only fallen asleep for an hour before streaks of orange emerged over the eastern horizons. Not that he could see it, since the only view he had was up through the trap door. It wasn’t hard for him to tell time anyway.

The Berkian teenagers, however, were still in deep sleep. The dragon calls last night kept them up for long. If Hiccup, or Yostuk, whoever he was, kept it up for the whole trip, they might not get even a night of restful sleep at all.

 _Stump. Stump._ Hiccup immediately went on alert at the slightest sound of hefty boots resonating through the wooden floorboards. Hiccup was lying in Toothless’ hold as usual, but he could still peek out underneath the weight of Toothless’ legs and wings. He saw the dark silhouette of a man appear over the trapdoor, spying inside. The man was big and strong, but the aura he emitted was anything but strength. The slouched figure, tensed frame and clenched fist…

Hiccup never wanted to cause his father as much misery as he had caused Hiccup.

After the figure moved away, almost looking dejected, Hiccup loosened a breath. He could feel that Toothless was not asleep either. Hiccup and Toothless could feel each other’s energy and blood flowing through their bodies, and their magic aura mingled with each other where they touched. Hiccup shifted slightly, so Toothless would lift his heavy wings and legs, giving Hiccup more room. Toothless crooned silently. Hiccup and Toothless had been so in tune with each other physically and spiritually for so long. Hiccup could hear Toothless’ support and protectiveness in his mind. Hiccup looked up at the ceiling, mentally plunging swords into himself for every uncontrollable longing he still had left, of the past he had lost. A home, a tribe and a father. That was one sin he was punishable for – the mere trace of yearning he had not managed to completely squash.

But maybe Hiccup still wanted some trace of his past, his person with him. Our past make us who we are and who we will be. Hiccup’s past, to him, was not just a source of strength, but a promise to make up for every bit of indignity he had self-inflicted on himself in the past.

Stoick walked away with the bread in his hands. Stoick had not managed to see the dragon rider. Not that he wanted to. He only walked there to… check on him. Make sure he was not up to anything. Yeah. And maybe bring him food, but only because he did not get to eat much the night before. But why did he feel so disappointed that the only indication that the boy was still there was his unattached prosthetic lying beside the nightfury, who looked to be clutching something while asleep?

But he _knew_ that surge of attachment, the one that had struck him with the shock and force of a dragon blast, and chased him from his watch. That attachment was misplaced kinship. When he looked at where Hiccup would be held within the dragon’s protection, he saw his son. With every moment that passed since the rogue, Yostuk, was revealed as Hiccup, his memories of his dearest son from years ago surfaced more and more. Stoick began to see more and more of Hiccup in that man. And Stoick hated that. In this filthy and unacceptable man he was seeing his child. But most of all, Stoick was reminded that Hiccup was _this_ man. This was what Hiccup was truly like.

Just as Stoick turned his attention to the sunrise, Gobber joined him on the deck.  It was rare for Gobber to be up early, but Stoick ran out of any capacity to be surprised. His world could not get more overturned than then.

“Don’t… don’t hurt him. Stoick.”

If denying his feelings for a second longer would make the truth less of a reality, Stoick would run for as long as he could. In return, his escapism brought bitter feelings. While Hiccup was facing them proudly, he, the once-proud viking chief, was cowering. “Gobber, he has a dragon with him. It’s best you not let your guard down around him.” _Treat him like the enemy he was._

“He’s going to be more than you think he will be. I feel it.” Gobber knew it from the strange and intricate weaponry and equipment Hiccup carried. Gobber knew it from the smell of exoticism on Hiccup. Gobber knew it from his voice, his movements and the complete absence of fillers and compensating gestures he’s seen Tuffnut and Snotlout used. Gobber knew it from his gleaming eyes.

“Get some rest, Gobber.” Stoick started to walk away.

“Stoick… Please don’t do anything you’ll regret.” _If you don’t want this to end like it did 5 years ago._

Underneath calm surfaces, an old storm stirred.

After another day of no one but Gobber speaking to Hiccup, except for when sending him food, Hiccup’s good behaviour earned him lunch on open deck. But truthfully, the never-ending animosity he received made the shut-in basement more attractive. He was almost intentionally tripped, twice, and was glared at constantly. Maturity was clearly not a quality vikings spared a thought about. Though something that amused him was the fact that Snotlout had stolen a book, and not to destroy it. Or so he heard. But it was only so amusing until Snotlout decided he would trip and dump his leftover food on Hiccup.

He knew Gobber had been defending him and speaking up for him every chance he got. That should not be happening. He should not have to burden his old mentor like this. Gobber didn’t deserve this duty upon him. Gobber didn’t owe him anything. So Hiccup did not want to see Gobber alienate himself more for Hiccup’s sake, even though Gobber’s respected position in their society was not that easily swayed.

In his peripheral vision, he could already see Gobber getting up and storming over to him and the mocking Snotlout. But that was not what had caught his attention. He had felt weird the whole day, and now he finally realised why. He felt light static in the air. Now the waves was starting to act up. He could hear their calls, as if responding eagerly to their master’s summon.

“Snotlout, what are you doin’?” Hiccup cut Gobber off.

“We have to turn the ship around.” Hiccup said with all honesty and seriousness.

Stoick, who was still throughout the entire obvious bullying Hiccup was receiving, like he had for Hiccup’s whole life, spoke up. “What are you saying?” Snotlout was visibly upset to have his bullying overlooked.

“I’m proposing that you should turn the ship around unless you want to be fried and have your ship be blown into splinters.”

Hiccup squinted his eyes into the distance. He caught it. A flash.

“You were stranded, right? I passed by a skrill storm a few days ago. Were you caught in the storm?”

“How did you know?” Why was it that Hiccup always seemed to know more than they did? Back in the forest, at Boneheads, and even now?

“Skrills have a habit to stick around in the same area after landing a target. It leads them to believe that area was frequented, and other ships would pass by again. Basically, we are being expected.”

But of course, the calm skies and blue seas convinced them otherwise. Snotlout led the others to laugh at Hiccup. It’s not his doing, but hey, if Hiccup wanted to make a fool out of himself, who was Snotlout to stop him?

“I’m not joking to you.” His irritancy roused Toothless, whose head emerged out of the opened trap door behind Hiccup.

“Hey! We agreed he’s not allowed to come out as long as we leave the door open!”

But once Toothless’ head was in the open air, his pupils were reduced to slits and he started growling loudly.

Only Gobber watched Hiccup observe the skies, but always remained slightly facing Toothless, as if listening in to Toothless. Then he frowned in that same way Stoick did, when he could not think of any solution and had to pick the lesser evil of possible responses.

“The storm will set in before the sun even sets. You need to turn around now! We are sailing right into its trap! You’ve been attacked once, you should know how dangerous it is! If we turn back, even if the Skrill catches up to us, the storm wouldn’t. And without a storm, the skrill would not be able to conduct the lightning.”

The rest of the vikings looked at Hiccup like he’d grown another head. Hiccup resisted his urge to roll his eyes, and he clenched his fists.

“I think you should go back to your cell.” Stoick’s denial made Hiccup feel as if he was doused by a bucket of ice water.

“What would I gain from lying? Toothless and I are the ones with metal prosthetics. We just want to be safe, alright? A little detour wouldn’t hurt. The last time we faced a skrill in a thunderstorm, we were shot out of the sky and I went into coma for a week.” Hiccup pushed his tunic sleeves up momentarily, and though the scars were mostly faded, the slight parrerns of discoloration still showed the pale streaks that ran up his forearm from his hand.

Just then, a distant cackle reached the ship. While the Berkians could not feel the sparks in the air, this cackle they’d heard. _Could it be?_

“I’m actually surprised you don’t know. Most vikings would know these facts about skrills. Toothless and I though, have a little more advantage since he has stronger senses than humans and I learnt to detect dragonic magic influxes from Toothless. Still, most vikings would have turned back by now. Travellers would know to avoid locations within a month of any skrill attack just to be safe. It’s been what, a few days? A week since the incident? Are you really so eager to die?”

“Why should we believe ye?” Someone said, who Hiccup didn’t bother recalling the name of.

But Hiccup was exasperated. Were they not listening? A usual storm would not rumble so loudly that they were hearing the storm before seeing grey stormclouds. A usual storm would not feel charged. “This is common sense. It’s probably because you Berkians rarely travelled by trade routes that you do not know. If you have any trader on deck, ask him and you’d know I’m right.”

Hiccup had been through more than anyone would have imagined, but the Hiccup that Stoick was currently feeling tender about had disappeared long before Hiccup left. He disappeared the first time Hiccup touched Toothless, henceforth sealing his fate with Toothless and since then, lent strength from Toothless’ presence in his life. That bond, that love for Toothless gave him the strength to try and changed what his tribe felt about Toothless’ kind, to stand up to his father and his whole tribe, admitting nothing but the fact that he would withhold the secret to the nest forever, and then to leave everything he’d known and start a new life.

Berkians thought he was protecting the nest. But he was protecting Berk, and giving up his world so he could be in Toothless’.

‘Having guts’ was a severe understatement.

At that moment, Hiccup watched everyone’s reactions closely. He remembered how stubborn vikings could be. He didn’t know whether falling back on the soft approach would work. Hiccup knew he pushed everyone too hard to stop the expedition. On the other hand, going soft had its dangers. Vikings hate to be proven weak, if Hiccup was lowering himself, it might be easier for them to give in without looking like they were admitting wrong. But, they might also look down on Hiccup like they always had and brush him off completely.

Unwilling to take the chance, Hiccup went further. “Even if this is a normal storm, things can still get tricky. And if it’s not a normal storm, we’re just making sure the skrill will have to fight us without his advantage of a storm.”

And Hiccup knew he convinced most people, but he was still shame in their eyes. Ironically, he used Stoick’s sense of honour to back his play. “Stoick. Please. You have an obligation to your people too. Just because the few of you came out of a giant storm alive doesn’t mean the others would too. I don’t have any motive, I just want to protect Toothless and I.”

“Think about it.” Hiccup turned and led Toothless back to the trapdoor and closed the metal trapdoor himself.

Without Hiccup and his beast there, the teens started murmuring with the other adults too, but it was as if the weather changed too rapidly, they could feel a bit of strong wind and tumbles under the ship. Very far out in the horizon, the clouds had shadows.

“Alright, we’ll change course and reroute south back to Berk. Gobber, go help with the steering. Everyone else, be prepared to dump all metals. Oh, where are… that man’s weapons and armours?”

Stoick’s difficulty in pronouncing Hiccup’s name was not lost on people. Gobber responded that he had them, as he was studying them. “Just make sure to be ready to throw it if necessary, otherwise, continue keeping it from the man. I don’t want him to make use of any opportunity.”

Gobber bit back his growl and just nodded without looking at Stoick.

While they did turn back, Hiccup was right, the storm came and it looked to be huge. The clouds were so dark and thick. They could hear rumbles of thunder, and that must mean there was lightning.

Skrills doesn’t have to be the only explanation for that.

At night, Hiccup sat against Toothless fumbling with his chains. They took away everything he had, so Hiccup was incredibly bored. He wished he could fly, Toothless got increasingly restless and so did he. He couldn’t even do any writing or drawing or reading. Dang. Maybe if he could get someone to bring him some books. Unknowingly, Hiccup started doing a series of tapping with his prosthetic, his chains rustling in rhythm.

The simple beat was doing well to occupy his body, but not his mind. His thoughts wandered to who was he most likely to train. Surely not his father. Gobber might volunteer in support of him. But most of all, Fishegs was very likely. The Fishlegs he remembered from years ago wouldn’t, but this current Fishlegs, confident in his own way, intelligent and inventive with his mind, was a good fellow to target.

Hiccup’s face stiffened. Chief Furlan must know something, he was planning something big, Hiccup just knew it. That was why he had Hakru continue his investigation while he was not available. Hiccup didn’t like that he was under locks and chains and couldn’t do anything, but this was far more hopeful than the situations he had imagined. He even prepared to kidnap Chief Furlan, or spike all their drinks, or use magic on their weapons. Thankfully, the only thing that went down was three soldiers. He would have to watch Berkians closely to make sure they were not still planning to stupidly take on the queen.

And he has a sinking suspicion greater forces were at work. Chief Furlan might be a respected chief, he was still a typical viking. Stubborn-headed in that empty head of his, with an ego complex. Though he might be better at scheming than Stoick, clearly he did not inspire confidence in his followers like Stoick did. Hiccup could not imagine the matter to be as straightforward as it seemed.

_Stop thinking. You’re disturbing me._

Hiccup didn’t realised he was holding his breath until Toothless made him choke with giggles.

“Oh yeah? Maybe I should think more.”

_Don’t you dare. I had to listen to you talk the whole day, and now when sleeping too? This is a nightmare._

“What are you saying? I thought you love me, baby.” Then Hiccup threw himself on top of Toothless and started shamelessly snuggling and kissing.

“Hey. On a second thought, do you think Hakru would find her?”

_Hmm. Possible. But isn’t she busy? With the dragon trappers?_

“Yea… True.”

_What about your wife? You not missing her?_

Hiccup groaned out loud. “Urghhhhh. When will you ever stop using her to mess with me? Seriously! Getting old, Toothless.”

Hiccup heard the devil laughing at him in their minds. _Pitiful. You don’t return her love._

“Wh-what’ar you even saying? There’s nothing between us. I swear you never stop.” The Hiccup pouted.

_Stop what, Hiccy? Mentioning your love? Pfft.._

Hiccup grinned darkly, then suddenly gave Toothless a hard scratch up the column of his neck where he knew it was most sensitive.

 _GNNNAAAWWWLLLLLLL!_ Toothless actually growled aloud, loud enough for everyone on board to hear. _You did not just do that!_

Hiccup hadn’t known that tickling and petting was an intimate and sensitive action, especially in their breed. At first, he only did it to make Toothless feel good. Only when Toothless explained to him the amount of power he held over Toothless when scratching him did Hiccup understand the weight of his actions. If he could easily put Toothless to sleep, he could easily kill Toothless. Allowing Hiccup to scratch him was a serious act of trust, that Hiccup was only beginning to understand. Toothless shook Hiccup off, heavily embarrassed by Hiccup’s actions.

Hiccup scratched Toothless’ head affectionately, and Toothless shoved himself completely into Hiccup’s chest, purring at the sound of his heartbeat.

Hiccup missed the noises of panicking vikings charging around the ship.

 _YAHHHHHHH!_ Over ten vikings poured into the cell.

There he was, half-dressed, playing wrestling with the offspring of lightning and death…

**Oops.**


	18. Forced Hand

“Chief! That man is NOT Hiccup and he CANNOT be trusted!”

Stoick rubbed his temple in frustration. Third night and that was the second time the vikings were worked up. Last time they were protesting to have _him_ only locked up, but now, thrown into the sea.

And did this meeting really have to happen in the middle of the night, in his room? He’d heard the loud warning call too, and freaked out worrying that they would be betrayed, being almost vulnerable at sea,but from what the Berkians that responded said, Toothless wasn’t attacking, and Hiccup was laughing when they got there.

In his sleep-deprived state, Stoick was starting to think maybe Hiccup did this just to make their lives miserable.

Just then, a loud cackle sounded above the ship and then a sound of explosion erupted from the front deck. When they appeared out into the open deck, rain poured from the dark, cloudy skies above. A nightfury shot blasted the locked trapdoor open, and Hiccup rode Toothless onto the deck before jumping off. The gaping hole in the middle of the ship sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

“I thought we turned around?” That was the first time Hiccup even let loose an ounce of panic in his demeanor.

“Yeah, we did… But the storm wasn’t anywhere near us so we stopped routing Southwards-”

“So you think the skrill will stupidly just let us pass it by?!” Hiccup looked disappointed, when he redirected his looks from the steering man, to Stoick.

A large wave crashed into the ship and knocked many off balance, including Toothless that was crouched just shy of the open side of the ship where the safety barriers were struck off.

Hiccup watched in horror as Toothless fell into the opaque sea. “TOOTHLESS!” The vikings confiscated everything, including Toothless’ prosthetic tailfin. Toothless would drown even if Hiccup could get to him in time. Hiccup ran off into the cabins and rummaged for their confiscated weapons. The Berkians were too panicked to stop Hiccup. Meanwhile, the vikings tried in futile to steer the ship despite the storm. It didn’t take long for another of the skrill’s attack hit the deck.

Hiccup ran back out onto the deck with the heavy bundle of prosthetic tailfin in his hold, and Hiccup dove into the sea, before anyone could react and stop him.

Under the waves, Hiccup’s surrounding was almost completely dark. Hiccup reached out using his bond with Toothless. It was as if a string of glittering turquoise glow connected Hiccup to Toothless, and it led him into the darkness. Hiccup could feel Toothless, and he knew Toothless felt him too. Hiccup swam deeper and deeper into the depths, then the nightfury’s shining eyes caught Hiccup.

 _TOOTHLESS!_ Hiccup accidentally let out air as he tried to mouth Toothless’ name.

_HICCUP!_

Toothless knew Hiccup’s limits. Hiccup was running out of air and the pressure this deep was taking a toll on him. Toothless struggled so he would sink slower, but it was hard. He was usually able to glide, but without his tailfin, his dense body had even less to keep himself afloat. His lone tailfin was weak in strength and in balance, more so with the roaring waves. Unless Toothless could fly, even if he was able to swim up to the surface, he wouldn’t be able to break away from the water. Nightfuries were excellent swimmers and underwater predators, but just like flying, they relied very much on their wings and tails for balance and streamlined wave motion that propels them forward with power. Without the prosthetic, he would have taken forever to resurface in those roaring waves, and would have fallen back into the sea even if he did get airborne for a moment. Hiccup quickly went to work, attaching the numerous mechanisms, even as his mind gets hazy.

Toothless felt Hiccup’s end of their bond get dimmer, and fear assaulted him. _Hiccup, go! Go up and breathe!_

Hiccup could barely hear Toothless, but in his hyperaware state, he heard his own heartbeat loudly. The only thought in his mind, was to return the gift of flight to Toothless. Even if he swam up now, he might not make it…

Toothless felt the unmistakeable clink, whether it was through the silence, or echoed through Hiccup’s mind. Toothless turned around and grabbed Hiccup, who was quickly losing consciousness, and darted up as quickly as he could, against the strong currents and air bubbles concentrate near the surface. Toothless broke away into the open air, and flew towards the ship a distance away.

He landed on the remainder of the deck, releasing Hiccup. Hiccup coughed and belched, struggling on the deck, and Toothless tried his best to provide comfort to Hiccup through their bond.

Toothless looked to be on high alert, his throat constantly churning. At one point, a lightning shot towards the mass of vikings on the deck, and Toothless let out a strong blast that displaced the lightning strike.

The vikings stood watching, enamoured. **Did the night fury just protect us?!** Actually, no. Toothless couldn’t care less for them. In fact, Toothless’ protectiveness meant he would rather have all of these people die. He would hold on to the grudge, of how they mistreated Hiccup, forever.

“Im okay. I’m okay.” Hiccup reassured all those around him who he unintentionally scared out of their minds. Gobber and Stoick reached out uncontrollably, wanting so much to take care of Hiccup, but Hiccup brushed them off and returned to Toothless’ side while he choked and hacked up seawater. His legs were obviously shaking and he shivered.

“Toothless. C-come h-here.” Hiccup called out to Toothless. He had on his leather flight suit. Hiccup quickly settled to work on Toothless’ metal stirrups. At Toothless’ side, he locked in the automatic flight gear and told Toothless. “I-I, harh, I’m in no –cough- state to d-direct you. I’ll supp-cough- support you, but you need t-to steer. Toy with t-the skrill –Hiccup started shivering- and STAY SAFE.”

From one of the sacks, Hiccup produced a black coloured replacement of the prosthetics, one that matched the new one he had on. He left his inferno behind, and attached _Vein of Thunder_ and his black blade that was fused with Toothless insulating scales. The vikings were too overwhelmed to even feel ashamed that they acted in a one-track minded manner, and obviously tongue-tied to fault Hiccup for stealing back his weapons that were under safe-keeping. He might not be the only person on deck with some experience with skrills, but needless to say, his experiences were of a completely different kind.

Toothless pushed his snout into Hiccup’s chest and breathed out, physically and magically giving Hiccup warmth, so that the rush of icy air then they took off could not shock Hiccup too much, especially since he was still wet from seawater.

“Go! Get out of here! I’ll meet you up ahead.” Hiccup shouted through the rain to the blunderhead steering the ship, then he flew off on Toothless.

“HICCUP!” Gobber watched with horror when Hiccup took off towards the sky. “No! Metal attracts lightning!”

From around him, Berkians that stood around were clearly at a loss of what to do. “On your feet. We have to go full speed ahead!” Stoick ordered, completely opposite to what Hiccup had mentioned earlier in the day. Sometimes riding it out through the storm beats turning back and racing the storm. As deep in the storm as they already were, backing up wasn’t really an option anymore.

Toothless and Hiccup easily located the skrill, with its magic leaking and trailing all around him. The skrill got irritated at smelling and seeing the nightfury, the dragon breed that contested its dominance in the skies. And worse, submitted himself to a human that was so very below them. They were conquerors!

The skrill chased and lashed at Toothless and Hiccup, but even in the low visibility environment, Hiccup and Toothless moved in sync. He trusted in Toothless’ senses and flying, and Toothless trusted that Hiccup would align himself to Toothless’ movements by feeling each other. The two cripples, together, made a whole.

_There._

Toothless shot a seemingly aimless bolt into the clouds, and was met with a skrill’s snarl.

The vikings heard it. And they had seen the lightworks. Things had never been scarier in their entire life.

The skrill was angsty. How can the nightfury and its burden move and hide in _its_ clouds. Unacceptable!

The skrill reappeared underneath the dense clouds and gathered its senses, ready to spark the moment the nightfury appeared.

It didn’t notice the boy falling towards it’s back, straight as an arrow and blending into the night. It eyes widened when the boy finally entered its peripheral vision, but it was too late and it turned. Hiccup drew his sword and slashed deeply through its torso, at burning speed that he was falling at. The _Vein of Thunder_ lent him strength through his sword, and the golden waves scalded the skrill along the blade, and was brightest at the tip of the blade.

The skrill gave a heartbreaking painful roar. Hiccup didn’t cut anywhere close to its wings or tail, just where its fats were heaviest.

Hiccup still continued free falling to the horror of Gobber and Stoick, but the black speck dove behind Hiccup, giving the air a resounding howling that had them gasping “Night fury…”, and caught Hiccup. Or rather, positioned itself perfectly below Hiccup so Hiccup landed perfectly into the saddle and locked up the mechanisms within an instant.

The storm was dissolving quickly. The vikings didn’t understand, but skrills often used magic to gather its own storm clouds, stirring things up. _Vein of Thunder_ disrupted the magic flow in the skrill’s body, and allowed the storm to run loose.

Toothless expanded its wings to slow their descent, and they halted above the ship, defensive and alert. Hiccup readied his bow and aimed it, but his eyes were closed. When he pulled the band taut, a glowing arrow emerged. Every twitch Toothless gave, he responded. It seemed as if Toothless was the one directing Hiccup, even though ironically Hiccup was riding Toothless. Hiccup felt Toothless twitch under him, their mingling magic toying and tipping Hiccup towards the left, higher up. Then Toothless suddenly stilled and quietened. And Hiccup knew instantly. He let go of the golden arrow.

The arrow struck the storm at its core where the skrill fuelled it.

After Hiccup’s blow to it, the skrill had snuck off and escaped into the distance. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Toothless gave a smug growl. _Ha! Now we witness who is of the more superior race!_

Watching the storm dissolve, Hiccup let out a long sigh of relief, his tensed posture finally relaxed slightly. He felt the adrenaline slowly leaking out of him, and knew that he wouldn’t just be tired afterwards, he would be spent. Using _Vein of Thunder_ always left him totally spent, and now the exhaustion was compounded by him almost drowning. While they flew back slowly towards the ship, Hiccup felt an onslaught of unbearable warmth, and he blacked out for a second. When he regained consciousness again, the air was freezing to him and caused him to shiver. Toothless felt how Hiccup’s energy was being sapped to sustain the bow even after the shot, and took initiative to steer by himself, relieving Hiccup to rest momentarily.

“Hiccup!” Gobber hurried over when Toothless landed heavily on the half destroyed ship.

The boy looked comical. Singed hair, charred clothes and lidded eyes. Toothless surrounded him in his warm body and generated as much heat as possible to keep Hiccup out of the cold.

But the boy blinked, and folded where he stood.


	19. Do you remember me well? (Not everything's changed.)

The sun woke him up. It was weird. He always made sure Toothless and he was well sheltered from the day before going to sleep, to make sure they would rest well through the day and travel well during the night. His sleep patterns were changed to complement Toothless'. Hence, he was surprised to feel warmth on his face and see glaring bright red behind his eyelids. Did he not cover the cave entrance very well? Did they even go to sleep in a cave? Confusing questions appeared in Hiccup's mind such that he recalled with shocking certainty that no, they didn't go to sleep in a cave.

Hiccup sat up right away, seeing dirty ceiling and straws on the ground he was lying on. Chains were locked onto his wrist and the ache in his back suggested he slept in the dungeon-like place for more than just a few hours. The sun was shining from a high window and he could see someone's feet walking past the window. He must be situated below ground level.

One side of the room was enclosed with floor to ceiling metal bars, and on another side, his nightfury was eyeing him with the amount of disinterest that suggested his waking up was either boring or stupid.

**Morning.**

Toothless obviously didn't care for his response, going on with his rant.

_You sure took your own sweet time sleeping huh? I had to drag your sorry ass in here all the way from the dock, you bitch._

"Who shoved a stick up your ass?" Hiccup retaliated harshly.

Clearly a bratty dragon was that last thing he wanted to wake up to, and he was about to return with more jabs when a loud choke and cough sounded right after the imagery he threw.

He eyed the corridor outside the cell, vaguely recognising this to be the Berkian prison, the memory too old to pinpoint from when it was from.

Stoick walked in front of the cell door and Gobber unlocked it. Hiccup protectively reached for Toothless, but was stopped by the chains curling around his arms and body. Stoick and Gobber had blanched after Hiccup’s crude exclamation. They couldn’t believe that they were hearing the crude cusses from Hiccup, and didn’t know what could have warranted such a scolding first thing in the morning…

Oblivious to Stoick’s and Gobber’s shock, the brothers continued their conversation.

_Don't worry. They haven't hurt me or threatened us. Well… actually they did when we first arrived, but your dad and mentor told them to stop. I assume the village had some sort of meeting about us._

Hiccup nodded in understanding. "You dragged me in here?"

_No one wanted to touch either of us… scaredy cats. I tried to tell them I would carry you, but no one seemed to understand so I simply lifted you by your shirt and your mentor knew what I wanted. He led me off the ship and down here._

Hiccup gave contemplative look. **So they reacted quite badly when we were sailed in, but Stoick and Gobber were able to hold them back while we were transferred... Where did my things go then?** Hiccup would admit that his flight suit and weapons were invaluable to him and if anyone think they could just loot them he would raise hell. **Stoick better not think me being treated a prisoner here meant they get to confiscate my equipment.**

Hiccup sensed Toothless heard his thoughts and was about to respond.

Stoick cleared his throat, looking completely out of place even though the place was his.

"Actually, we didn't. The nightfury dragged you in here."

It took Hiccup more than just a few moments to understand that Stoick was answering the question he posted Toothless. **That’s right. They didn’t know I can actually communicate with Toothless linguistically yet.**

Ever since he had shown himself, his interactions with Stoick had been diplomatic, business-like, bordering on cold. Clearly Stoick was very unaccepting of him. There was carefully guarded control and distance in his father's whole presence. Hiccup fancied a guess that Stoick didn't want to admit that he was even a bit affected, and he'd rather treat Hiccup like a stranger, which was fine by Hiccup.

"Okay." Hiccup acknowledged Stoick's response. He'd rather not reveal that anyway that he could speak to Toothless.

Hiccup realised they still stayed outside the cell even though they unlocked it.

"Here are your weapons and err... clothes." Stoick said and held out the things from behind his back, restrainedly through the cell bars.

"Equipment." Hiccup helped, and was happy he got his treasures back. He examined them, making sure nothing was damaged. Unlike Stoick, Gobber stepped into the cell when passing him the flight gears that were not the lightning resistant type Toothless was still wearing from that night, which reminded Hiccup of that fight.

"How long was I out?"

Gobber answered. "Four nights ago. The healer already came by two times."

"Hypothermia and exhaustion on top of low food intake I suppose?" Hiccup's answer seemed to surprise Gobber and Stoick.

"Right. How'dya know?"

"Not that hard to guess, Gobber. I know hypothermia when I have it. Flying in the clouds at high speed for hours each day can be freezing, you know? That's why I made this suit. I remember I didn't get to change into it that night against the skrill."

Gobber rubbed over Hiccup's back. "I see."

For the third time that visit, Stoick had to cough.

"As per our agreement, your dragon will be wherever you'll be, no restrains whatsoever as long as he does not attempt to harm one of our own. You will have to be locked in the cell every night but you'll be released during the day. And as for the training, we will not force anyone who is unwilling, so you are responsible for getting someone yourself."

"And if no one is willing?"

"Then you have to convince them." Stoick held his own hands behind his back, appearing commanding. Hiccup wasn’t bothered by the situation. He’d rather be able to choose his own student. He just hummed in response, and devoted his attention in double checking his things.

"As for your meals, you can get them at the mead hall like everyone else. Another thing is, you have to earn your food and stay, which means you have to help out around the village every day."

Hiccup finished inspecting the gears and got up to unbuckle Toothless. On a second thought, he would let Toothless go unsaddled for the day, instead of just replacing the lightning resistant gear with the normal one. He was in no state to fly and Toothless shouldn't be in saddle for so long. Toothless might be more or less fully matured yet but the metal ropes and leather could still be bad for him.

"Alright, that's very agreeable terms. Thank you, Stoick. And Gobber."

Stoick gave a low hmph and left Gobber and Hiccup alone. Hiccup finished organising his things around the empty cell and could lie down against Toothless. Gobber wasn’t as stiff as he had been on the ship, and he sat by Toothless’ tail.

"So, Hiccup. Teach me how this goes would'ya? The mystery is killing me."

Hiccup grinned delightfully and showed Gobber to the saddle lining Toothless' body. To see Gobber move close to the nightfury filled Hiccup with gladness.

Hiccup only went into the basics of how the mechanism worked, but didn’t go into how the materials were made. People wouldn’t be able to tell unless he told them, but most of his equipments by now, were composite materials made of alloyed metals and some even dragon scales, for the extreme durability, resistance to oxidation or electricity, and able to withstand extreme temperatures. Even the leather and fabric components are often protected externally and reinforced internally.

His three main weapons, the Inferno, _Vein of Thunder_ , and lastly, a spatha which was crafted during his stay in the Roman Empire, all were repeatedly toughened on several occasions and were built for swiftness and ease of wielding. The spatha was the only exception to that, being it was much heavier but was also much stronger. His weapons and equipment were designed to complement his agile and unpredictable style of fighting, and needed to be able to be used flexibly. Even Toothless’ saddle and tailfin mechanism got lighter over the years despite being upgraded. The more lightning-resistant set was lighter, but was less durable other extreme conditions such as under intense heat or force. Hiccup and Toothless carried the extra with them despite rarely running into skrills, and used it as a spare. The tailfins were all waterproof and fire-resistant, which was something Hiccup was very proud of. They were extremely durable and not very susceptible to wear and tear, even if hit by sharp objects.

Hiccup did not let himself go into these details, however, and for now he would only explain to Gobber the logic behind the mechanisms Toothless wore. “There have been many changes. My original one was the one six years ago, when my final exam happened. I still based the current one on it because it was difficult to find another way to work the tailfin that is convenient. Or maybe it’s just that I’m too used to working it this way.” It was already instinctual for Hiccup how his feet would react to however he wanted Toothless to fly. Hiccup suspected Toothless could understand just by the twitch at his side how his prosthetic tailfin would be positioned.

Afterwards, they relocated to the forge. Hiccup hadn't realise he was actually excited to see the forge until he stepped onto the streets amidst the whispers and looks. The minute Toothless appeared after him, the crowd dissolved and people avoided looking in their direction.

He used to use the forge as sort of a shelter from disappointed looks and expectations unknowingly, and now the nostalgia was strong. He wanted to work the forge with Gobber again. Considering he had two months for his mission, a day with gobber in the forge was forgivable.

He had expected worse than just passing remarks so the villagers' reactant bothered him not. But he did walk closer to Toothless. He wasn't wearing any armour or suit, still he resolutely carried a sword in his clothes – Inferno - for safety's sake.

In his peripheral, he noticed Fishlegs and Astrid speaking with Stoick, and they turned to watch him as he walked past. He didn’t come back wanting their attention. He didn’t come back knowing he had to stay on Berk again, but it didn’t matter. He was his own person now.

 

Gobber reflexively brought out some of the smaller tools Hiccup used to use. Most didn't know he was just as strong as or even stronger than some of his peers six years ago, all because of his work in the forge. But while he had been strong enough for most of the tools, some were still too big or heavy for him so he needed some personal tools in smaller sizes. Only when Gobber dug out the precious case with them and placed them to Hiccup's confused face that he realised Hiccup was grown and had no need for them. It was only yesterday that the table was at Hiccup’s chest and he had to stand on a stool to work. Now, Hiccup almost at his height. 

Hiccup took the case from Gobber's hands, and upon seeing what they held, instead of anger or getting upset, Hiccup looked pleased.

"You kept my old tools?"

Gobber nodded.

"How did you even hide these? I thought all my things would be burnt like they did for exiled people."

"…Yer father let me keep these actually." Gobber must have imagined the pause in Hiccup's movements. "You should hold on'ta these. They belong'ta you."

Hiccup closed the box thankfully. They were about to start when someone crashed into the forge. Tuffnut was bent over panting. "Sorry I'm late!"

…

**Well, at least Ruffnut’s not with him.**

"Tuffnut! Ye 'ere!"

Hiccup turned a confused look to Gobber.

"…Aye only have two hands, Hiccup. Tuffnut's been 'elping out round 'ere since ye left."

Hiccup was about to say hello but Tuffnut was scared by the black reptile nesting at the back of the cramped forge.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "What's the deal? You spent a night in a cave with him remember? Stoick could even stand ten feet from him for more than five minutes."

Hiccup was not mentioning the fact that they had a metal bars between them that morning.

Gobber motioned Tuffnut to continue with the work he left off with last night, and him and Hiccup joined hands in crafting heavy weapons. Whatever Gobber needed, he tried to reach for the tool on the hanging belt only to find Hiccup had already took it and was feeling about in the air between them for where was the hand receiving it. Hiccup smirked, obviously knowing Gobber’s surprise but still resolutely trained on his work. "You mutter while you work remember? I always passed you the tool you want this way because you say it out loud."

Gobber received the tool with the most satisfaction.

From the other side of the forge, Tuffnut watched Hiccup moving around the forge like a fish in water and work the heaviest mechanics effortlessly and decided he didn't know Hiccup anymore. Not at all.

The nightfury barked from the back and Hiccup scolded back suddenly, then the nightfury quietened again. Tuffnut shivered though he was nowhere near the nightfury. He remembered Hiccup’s flying that night during the skrill attack, how Hiccup and Toothless actually took on a skrill in the sky while it was storming. He _definitely_ didn't know that man.

 

That same night, Hiccup retired back to his cell, and pet Toothless to sleep before he sat up again, waiting.

It didn't take long for Fishlegs to come. Hiccup greeted him with a smile.

"I certainly hadn't thought you a subtle person, but I hardly consider walking into me at the mead hall and passing a note into my hand a good attempt at secrecy." Fishlegs crossed his arms over his chest, remaining outside and ignoring the invitation of the wide open cell door.

"Nice to see you too, Fishlegs."

"I see lying isn't your forte either."

"I’m not lying." Hiccup let his smirk change into a genuine smile for his old friend. "You've always been the more hardworking one on the factual side, but I never though you would grow into a leader."

Fishlegs frowned. "I'm not a leader, Hiccup. If that's why you wanted to see me, I-"

"It's not, Fishlegs… It’s not."

Hiccup sat back, leaning against the black, uneven brick wall.

"Fishlegs, I want you to volunteer for dragon training."

Fishlegs paled. "Why me? I refuse."

Hiccup was mildly surprised by the certain response. Had he read Fishlegs wrongly? "What do you think this is about?"

Fishlegs swallowed and went straight to the point. Even before Hiccup left, hardly anyone could say they knew Hiccup beyond the _useless, troublemaker, embarrassment_. He obviously didn’t expect Hiccup to pick the dragon’s side over theirs, which was insanity. It should have been just a trick that the nightfury didn’t kill him immediately. Then now he returned, uneaten and still bore the same trust in dragons. This was someone Fishlegs didn’t know how to speak to so he went with the most straightforward manner.

"This is about you showing Berk up, showing vikings up by proving your ideals.”

Fishlegs watched Hiccup’s face remain impassive, more impassive than before. “If you win, vikings lose the chance at the dragons' nest and you have a better chance at stopping vikings from killing dragons by making us train dragons. Even if you lose, you still succeed in gaining another two months to come up with a better plan to stop the attack on the dragon' nest."

Hiccup was looking out to the night sky. "And the Red Death, do you believe it's real? Why do you think I want to stop this attack in the first place?"

"... I don’t know… maybe you just want to protect the dragons…"

"And you don't think this is about the Red Death, Fishlegs? You don't think this is about what vikings stand to lose in the attack?" Hiccup turned back at Fishlegs expectantly.

His voice roused Toothless. Toothless cracked opened one eye, seemingly scanning for any danger before getting up drowsily, crawling the short distance to Hiccup’s side and curling up against him like a giant lazy feline, going right back to sleep. Hiccup petted him on the head.

“…I don’t know, but this is your fight, Hiccup.” Fishlegs was frowning. “Dragons, humans, the Red Death. Berk kills dragons to protect ourselves, Berk hunts the nest to protect the future generations, that’s all. Everything else beyond that is not our fight.We’re not going to stop just because you want us to.”

Hiccup sat up straighter and suddenly all the easy-going air Hiccup had going on after boarding the Berkian ship with them disappeared like it didn’t exist. He might not be as harsh as he had been when they first met him – a dragon tamer from the woods with dragons between his legs and flaming sword in his hand. The sternness came through though, as well as the solemnity.

“You’re wrong, Fishlegs... This is utterly and completely your war, Berk’s war and every vikings’ war… I didn’t have to come back and get myself into this mess again, you know? Me, trying to prove that dragons can be befriended is no longer just about me wanting to stop Berkians from killing dragons. This…”

Hiccup gestured to his surroundings: the straw ground he was sitting on, the prisoner’s cell, the chains restraining him.

“This about the battle you, vikings, are about to wage against the Red Death, which is basically suicide.” Hiccup hissed. “Dragons, humans, the Red Death, this war involves us all, and you’ll be a fool to think I threw myself back into this mess just because I wanted to get back at Berk and what, prove my ideals?”

“You were right, when you said even if I failed this, I would find another way to sabotage and make sure the viking expedition wouldn’t happen. In which case, Toothless and I will kill the Red Death before the archipelago does, or die trying. But, if I can prove that dragons are not the devils you think they are, and even if the war continues as it is, I can at least protect people from the Red Death by stopping the attack, which is all I ask for. If the expedition happens, you are just offering up a whole archipelago of vikings to it for lunch.”

Fishlegs sat down heavily, exasperated.

“Even if what you’re saying is true, why me? Gobber would help you, and you know I’m not like Astrid. Or like Snorlout. I can’t face a nightmare with a giant axe in my hands, how do you expect me to walk up to a dragon and say hi?”

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “You already slept in the same cave as a nightfury. What can be scarier than the offspring of lightning and death?

“But… he… you already…”

“Fishlegs, I chose to talk to you because the Fishlegs I see right now, still have an innate curiosity for the unknown, and with one of the more open minds on Berk. You are an honest person that have people’s trust and respect, which is not easy for someone your age to achieve. I don’t for a second think that you are refusing because you’re scared. I might have been six years ago, but not now. If you believe me about what I said about the Red Death and why I am doing this, I don’t see why you would still say no.”

Privately, Fishlegs knew why else he didn’t want it. He didn’t want to put in the spotlight, be doubted, be judged and be singled out. He wanted to have a say when he could help and he wanted to hold on to the trust and respect Chief Stoick and other people have for him.

Hiccup stood up and Toothless surprisingly woke and followed. Fishlegs felt the urge to stand as Hiccup and Toothless approached him, not much of fear but he felt the need to listen to Hiccup’s next words on an equal level.

“For your whole childhood, even if you were mocked at, or scolded for being a bookworm, for being timid, you never stopped learning and sharing your knowledge. You’ve never been ashamed of pursuing your curiosity, Fishlegs… I hope it hasn’t changed.”

Toothless leaned into the bars separating them and keened at Fishlegs’ hand. The eyes that turned up to look at Fishlegs were intelligent and expectant, as if willing Fishlegs to put his trust into him.

At Hiccup’s pet on its head, it retreated from Fishlegs. He leaned back into Hiccup familiarly like a child to his mother, and they shared a long tender look. Fishlegs couldn’t bear watching, and the look between them would stay in Fishlegs’ mind.

Fishlegs left the cell. Dragons have been the core of their lives for centuries, and he learned all he could about them and more. Like others, he had had family and friends taken from him too. Looking at the night sky, why did he feel like he never knew dragons. He wanted to see what Hiccup saw when he shared that look with Toothless, what Hiccup saw in a monster that took Hiccup’s own mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Advanced notice!  
> I am so sorry for the late update. Additionally I'm going overseas for about 2 weeks so... I will upload 2 chapters for the next update on Monday and miss the following week's kkays?  
> Oh and I just watched A Silent Voice  
> It's so good T.T I teared sooo much omg D: I ended up loving every single one of the characters. So much character growth in one movie, oh god, I'm going to download the manga and read in China. Yes, good idea.
> 
> 27 MARCH UPDATE:  
> Oh god today was so overwhelming, a lot of last minute things popped up including uni offer, scholarship application and just STUFF. Looks like I won't be updating. I will try to get that very very nice friend of mine to help me again but no promises D: please go ahead and rage at me, it'll make me feel better!!  
> (Just wanna rant a bit. Im NOT happy that China chose to ban Ao3 and leave ff.net alone. It does leave me with somewhere to read fics but why Ao3 T.T)


	20. A Duel Long Overdue

Astrid was tired, tired from the long trip to Bonehead and everything else. The whole trip was a madness, from the skrill attack, to being stranded, to not even having enough money for a decent meal, then getting acquainted with a ferocious dragon tamer and finding out he was _Hiccup the Useless_. All in the span of around two weeks... And then Hiccup had to play the hero and save them from a skrill and show them sights they ought not to have ever seen and wouldn't ever forget.

Astrid hadn't forgotten about their debt either. Hiccup owed her, for patronising her and toying with her, as Astrid reminded herself again.

"... assign someone to the kitchen. Ophey will be staying home from next month onwards to prepare for her labour."

Fishlegs nodded to Stoick's words.

Astrid nodded at Stoick. Stoick had dark circles underneath his eyes, his whole demeanor was lethargic and listless. He had been practically grilled since returning to Berk, regarding chiefting matters of course, of which the bulk had been concerning the dragon rider and the 2-month agreement. The fact that he was their exiled traitor, _Hiccup the Useless_ made things even harder.

Sure it didn't make sense that they trusted and treated Hiccup worse than they would have if the dragon tamer weren't Hiccup, but they did.

Though to be fair, their resentment towards Hiccup for betraying them outweighed their care for him since birth, so it wasn’t actually that far-fetched for them to even angrier that he was actually Hiccup, than to be more forgiving.

Astrid could count it as pity, when she thought: “If he hadn't did what he did, he would've been in their position as the Chief's heir, wouldn't he?”

What was she thinking? Of course not. Without being _Hiccup the Traitor_ , he would still be _Hiccup the Useless_ and since when did any Chief passed their positions down to uselesses? Stoick wouldn’t have groomed someone like him to be chief, even if he wanted to.

In contrast, Stoick hadn't even spent much thought on it as it was routine that he would delegate Chief errands and smaller responsibilities to either Astrid or Fishlegs, usually with both of them present. It was expected for them to assist each other. Astrid was aware that they were truly the only few younsters that could help Stoick, and didn't necessarily get bothered being partnered with Fishlegs. Even she or anyone else could agree that Fishlegs was an excellent worker, meticulous and punctual.

People were much more used to them running duties for Stoick than Snotlout even after all these years, regretfully. Regardless, it was still fact that the heir's position (and duties) in Berk were already well taken care of.

Annoyance welled up in Astrid on that thought. It wasn't right, for Hiccup to show up on Berk again after leaving his father in pain and the village in anger. Berk didn't have a place for him anymore.

They were moving onto the last item to brief when the door for the underground jail opened lightly, out stepped Gobber. And of course, Hiccup and his nightfury followed out relaxedly. His left hand was connected to his dragon constantly, and side by side, their prosthetics were an odd uniform between them. They looked even more fitting together than apart.

Astrid frowned and her gaze sharpened, but she turned away. He wasn't worthed it.

 

Fishlegs eyed the thick root in dismay. It almost tripped him. Why must the forest always be so unfriendly to him? Astrid trained there everyday and she hadn't fallen even once.

Fishlegs's start to the new day was already worse than what he could endure and still pretend he was unbothered from last night’s talk with Hiccup.

His noisy approach was not overlooked by Astrid, but like the dedicated warrior she was, she didn't pause halfway in her training sequence for just a guest.

"Morning."

"Yea, sure. Morning."

Astrid landed her axe twenty feet from her with a loud and crunchy thud. She gave a slight nod, a self-affirmation, and jump-rolled to retrieve the axe so her battle with her invisible opponent could continue.

Fishlegs gave it another ten minutes, a few hundred swallows and wiping his moist palm against his pants constantly before his uttered…

"I'm going to volunteer for dragon training."

Astrid's stop was abrupt.

Fishlegs could already see. When she finished the somersault, she would give herself a hard turn to launch her axe in the target to her ten o'clock.

Astrid landed heavily as Fishlegs’ visualisation, but her stop in motion was unnatural like an inhale that wasn't followed by an exhale. Her hand that clutched a raised axe was lowered to her waist level.

Astrid must have finished processing the information. She made her way to in front of Fishlegs.

"You did? Really?"

Fishlegs supposed their tentative friendship meant that when he had made life-changing choices, he could talk away his nerves and uncertainty to her. Though in hindsight, that probably wasn't such a good idea.

Astrid hadn't hated Hiccup, even though she looked down on him before, but with his betrayal, Hiccup was... the person she would gladly sink her axe into without remorse. And then there's her grudge on the Yostuk's taking her lightly and making fun of her. Someone as prideful as Astrid must have felt shame at being saved repeatedly...

_Yeah, it was definitely a bad idea._

But well, for doing this to Fishlegs and convincing him to make a choice that would rock his world, in a bad way, Fishlegs really wouldn't mind hearing Astrid hate on Hiccup in exchange to get his anxiety off his chest.

Astrid didn't look like she wanted to drown him together with Hiccup, so that was good.

Fishlegs settled with looking convinced, resigned, accepted... the face of someone that had made a decision they knew was bad and had decided to stick with it.

"Why?"

Astrid twisted her twisted up angry face into somewhat resembling concern, yet still not at all hiding her struggle. It was as if she was lecturing a child who had done a bad thing despite being told it was bad. And didn't make sense why the child had still done it.

Fishlegs resisted the urge to look properly chastised. Astrid had her trust and respect in him, sure, but she clearly saw this as a mistake.

"I need to do this, Astrid. He's right. This is what I'm meant to do..." 

"You figured you’re meant to side with the enemy? Really? Is this the kind of revelation your gut told you or what? Your books?"

Astrid seemed to hear herself just then, and apologetically shut her mouth.

Fishlegs didn't take any offense since he knew Astrid didn't mean it.

"This is the chance to learn about them, Astrid. Hiccup just offered me an opportunity at understanding life beyond Berkians, beyong vikings, the dragons! I can't not do this..."

Astrid's silence prompted Fishlegs to sigh and continue.

"He flies a _nightfury_ , Astrid, one of the most elusive and powerful dragons in our records. And the breeds of dragons we can't even begin to imagine, he's seen them, fought them, rode them. And somehow, he even beat a skrill, in a skrill storm... How many vikings can we save if we can do that?"

"That doesn't mean you _join_ him. If he succeeds, then we can't attack the nest anymore. Then do we endure the raid for forever? He's not on our side, Fishlegs."

"But even if it's not me, it has to be someone, and if it has to be someone, it might as well be me. I can learn as much as possible, and if I find out that he's lying or dangerous, I'll just give up and let him fail. Would you rather someone dense like Tuffnut goes? I don't know about the rest, but Hiccup wouldn't let a dragon hurt me. This is the best way."

Astrid clutched at her hair in a less than graceful way, and landed the flat of her axe on Fishlegs' chest, its flat top around his neck.

"Arghh! Fine! You go, but I'm coming with you! He still owes me payback, and there's no way I'm letting him get his way that easily! He's gonna have to earn it!"

That night when Stoick finally got a breather from his duties, he took what was supposed to be a stroll in the woods... Only the 'woods' were kind of mutilated.

He's really gonna have to talk to Astrid about using their trees as training targets. At this rate, they would run out of storage space for firewood for winter.

 

Hiccup waited in the ring for Fishlegs for their first session. He was confident Fishlegs would turn up, but didn't think he could be sure Fishlegs wasn't just coming here as a spy to learn about dragon weaknesses yet, so he was likely to lay off the teaching first. He'll just help him get comfortable around different dragons and their temperaments. Yes, good plan.

It was very early in the morning, and the sun had just risen. Dew was still present in the air and the day managed to be cool without winds. Perfect weather, albeit a bit cold and wet, to fly in.

The gate to the arena rose, its creaks and clanging were like greetings.

Hiccup's pleasant mood instantly fell. There following Fishlegs' entrance was Astrid. That can't be good.  Even Stoick who was sitting in the viewing gallery observing the arena looked oddly shocked. Hiccup would know because he instinctually observed everyone's reactions immediately. So it seems Astrid was pulling something not planned or discussed. Something not motivated by Stoick, and likely not approved.

"You are going to duel me. First two out of three wins."

Hiccup had yet to take a step or utter a sound. Astrid looked smug. And expectant.

"If you lose, Fishlegs goes and you have to trick someone else into training with you."

Now Hiccup understood. She wanted to kick his butt, and probably thought he had Fishlegs too easily.

"And if you win, you get BOTH Fishlegs and me. How's that sound?"

Ah. That explains why Stoick wasn't informed. He probably wouldn't want two of Berk's best and brightest younger generation to end up dragon riders... Though now that the words' out, his hands were tied.

Hiccup couldn't help but feel irritated. Sure Astrid was another good idea for a candidate but he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with Astrid. She could get pretty attached all to the wrong things. Competition. Getting even. Attention.

But Hiccup was not about to surrender Fishlegs over. "I'll take it. Challenger chooses the type of duel and challenged chooses the location?" Or at least that's what he remembered... Outside of the Barbaric Archipelago, people rarely have such considerations when duelling. Most of the time it was wherever they were or the nearest convenient location, using their best mode of combat.

Hiccup supposed Astrid's slightly worried look was because she thought Hiccup would say something like in the sky or something. It was very amusing.

"Well, this arena is fine." Hiccup offered diplomatically.

"Okay. First round axe, then hand-to-hand, then sword."

Hiccup had on his crazy demonic flightsuit then, well prepared to jump in between Fishlegs in times of danger. It was quite a hassle to take it off. And he didn't even bring any weapon except for his inferno. Just his luck that he didn't have him best sword with him during a swordfight.

Astrid hadn't expected that Hiccup would take off his armour for the duel. Looking between them now, Astrid was at an advantage with her shoulder guards and studded skirt, while he only donned a thin and worn elbow-sleeved shirt and tight pants.

Hiccup went to his nightfury, chained at the side of the arena, looking like he had been sleeping until now. His eerily glowing green eyes opened and his upper body rose in the shadows. Astrid literally jumped at the scare. Laying in the shadows of the morning sky, the nightfury had completely blended into the blackness. He was completely still like he didn't exist. When his glowing eyes opened and rose upwards, it was like a pair of Loki's eyes staring straight at them. Fishlegs yelped.

Even Stoick, who watched Hiccup and Toothless get settled in the arena, and had the best view from his seat, had also forgotten about the nightfury.

Astrid's and Fishlegs' reactions made Hiccup laugh until he was bent over and heaving. His shirt rose a bit and showed bandages over his back and stomach. They hadn't known that the skrill fight injured him over his stomach, since they didn’t visit him at all. For Stoick, detachment was his only saving grace, and he deliberately busied himself to not concern himself with the fainted Hiccup.

He hadn’t even dared to meet Gobber’s eyes for the past few days.

Hiccup whispered to Toothless. "Hey. Don't interfere, alright. Don't worry about me."

Toothless huffed. Both in amusement over the viking's reactions and Hiccup's words. _I'd much rather sleep than watch your thin ass._

Hiccup dropped his whispering. "Hey! I could get whipped you know? Doesn't hurt you to show a little concern, does it?" 

_Yes, it does._

Hiccup pouted and stormed back. He picked a dual-sided axe closer to Astrid's axe in size, and readied himself.

A draw was what he aimed for.

So a win in axe for Astrid, hand-to-hand for him. Then for a swordfight which was his forte, he had more confidence of manipulating a draw.

"I'm winning this." Astrid hissed.

"Sure. By all means!" Hiccup generously cheered.

 _Three._ Astrid readied.

 _Two._ Hiccup twirled his axe, getting comfortable. It must've been surprising that he was strong enough and skilled enough to wield the heavy axe like that, from Astrid's look.

 _One._ Astrid lowered.

And pounced, her axe slashed and inch from Hiccup's face. Hiccup was forced backwards in a cartwheel.

First blood loses, but did she really _have_ to go for the eyes?

Hiccup dodged and blocked the next flurry of attacks based on his fight senses, as it would be really difficult to react quick enough if he had relied on sight. Hiccup really should have expected this. Astrid was the strongest on Berk amongst her age group for a reason. She was fast. She was strong. And she was skilled. Obviously she wouldn't let anyone give it to her, especially in an axe fight.

Hiccup did want to let her have the round but it was hard if she kept going for places that could kill.

Hiccup backed again to dodge another swipe at the jugular.

On her next turn, she aimed downwards-up. Hiccup somersaulted backwards.

She must really want the main Haddock line ended with Hiccup...

The next gleam blinded Hiccup, but clued him in ahead of time of how the strike would go. He readied his axe, not for another block but a hook, and when the axe was upon his chest just as he anticipated, he fitted his axe against hers on the flat curved hooks close to the handle, and put his strength into his axe, stopping the strike and locking them. Astrid's axe was vertical to the ground, the bottom blade close to Hiccup's chest and the top at Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup's axe was held right-handed, the handle crossing over the top of Astrid's axe's handle, and the bottom curve of one blade and curled under Astrid's Axe's upper handle. Its body of wood and the strings tied zigzag around its Astrid’s axe ensured little slip for the wielder, but also allowed Hiccup to twist his handle so his handle and back of the blade was embed against the wood tightly, the friction stopping Astrid from pushing or pulling the axe away.

Hiccup sidestepped so he was no longer under Astrid's axe and concurrently let his axe loose. Its heavy head dropped over the other side of Astrid's axe. Hiccup's left hand was already positioned under Astrid's axe and caught his own axe. Swiftly, he pushed Astrid off with the flat of his axe against her body.

Astrid stumbled backwards, shocked by Hiccup's first actual counter to all her attacks for the last few minutes.

She was about to attack again when Hiccup raised both of his hands and spoke, "I lost."

"No yielding, Hiccup." Astrid reminded.

Hiccup dropped his axe and drew her attention to his shoulder. There was a gash in the seams, and his skin beneath it reddened with drops of blood slowing oozing out.

Astrid gaped. "Wha! No- what is _that_? That's no first blood- that's-"

Stoick raised his hand to silence Astrid and the murmurs of the audience.

Hiccup hadn't even realised that the arena was filling up with spectators. They were being watched by thirty odd people and the numbers were still rising. He was too engrossed with the fight to notice. He wondered if his nightfury could made the whole arena jump with a repeat of just now.

"Astrid takes the first round!" Stoick announced disregarding Astrid's protest.

 

"Your win, Astrid. Congratulations."

Astrid's eyes were a mixture of shock and... flattery? She had a tint of red on her cheeks. Hiccup hope she wasn't feeling shamed, because that would be hundred times more dangerous than flustered or embarrassed or flattered.

"The next round, hand-to-hand. Anytime you're ready."

Astrid launched her axe into the weapons rack, when Hiccup was returning his weapon. Was she in rage?

No... Astrid avoided Hiccup's eyes, her eyes still hard, but not of steel anymore. Hiccup realised she was acting tough and telling him she was not going easy on him just because he kind of let her win.

Maybe he would refer to her as _Astrid the Pertulant_ from now on.

They recovered back to the center of the arena, raised their fists and readied.

 _Three._ They clenched and loosened their fists to work their muscles. It was a habit Hiccup managed to quit a few years after leaving Berk. It was taught as a way to warm up one's muscles for a fight and also to show the opponent down with one's strength. Hiccup thought why give up the element of surprise if you had one? Especially when to Hiccup, it was more of a nervous habit than anything else.

**And now it was back. Just perfect.**

_Two._ Astrid widened her stance. Hiccup loosened his body. Hand-to-hand combat was completely about the body. Good fighters could anticipate how one would strike just by observing how the muscles were tensed, and eye movements. He knew vikings didn't practice that, but it was a good mastery to have. Hiccup still stood fairly straight, with his legs spread, knees widened but unlocked.

 _One._ Astrid, like before, lowered herself slightly, ready for a quick attack. The surprise was lost. Hiccup put one leg to his back in preparation to backtrack, and his hands slightly positioned in front of him.

Astrid striked. Hiccup jumped back at the same instant, far from where Astrid ended up and she was embarrassingly punching the air. It was then that Hiccup finally took his actual ready position, His fingers on the right hand all straightened and closed, like blades. One hand was raised to neck-level, palm facing out, and his left was closed in a fist, the hand positioned bent in front of him, horizontal to the ground.

Astrid somersaulted and kicked at Hiccup. Hiccup ducked, letting Astrid strike the wall right behind him while he waited from Astrid behind her.

First to down their opponent wins.

Hiccup stopped evading, wanting to tire Astrid but not wanting to frustrate her or make her angry.

He gave a punch of his own, but she clearly wasn't one for blocking or dodging. She turned and kicked at his back. Hiccup turned around his back, following his punch and latched onto her leg. He raised it and pushed her back, but she wouldn't fall that easily. She might move on her legs a lot but she was always well balanced and firm. The amount of stability she had only came from experience and frequently using a weapon that rivalled her own weight.

Hiccup wouldn't be able to side kick against her, she realised. If he kicked with his prosthetic left leg, she could grab a good hold on him around the metal leg. If he kicked with his right, he would be left unstable on his left prosthetic leg.

She was bound to notice that, from how he refrained from kicking her when she was beyond an arm's length.

"Can't kick, huh?" Astrid smirked.

Up in the audience, an obnoxious voice that announced _Snotlout_ , started making insults and digs at Hiccup's handicap.

Hiccup noted Astrid looked dismayed at what her careless comment started.

Astrid noted all of Hiccup's body was still as relaxed as the beginning of the match. If anyone were to guess, there was a good chance of him thinking about what he was having for lunch, by the relaxed and pleasant demeanour he had. His mind, however, was focused and alert, and his eyes had yet to stray from Astrid even by a bit.

Astrid stopped her musings and attacked, this time quick to recover behind an arm's length from Hiccup. Still, Hiccup didn't look worried or uneasy.

Astrid understood why when Hiccup blocked and dodged her strikes skilfully like he did with an axe. When she kicked her again, he didn't throw her, but turned her feet so she had to flip. She wouldn't drop onto the ground like that. She could have broken her fall with her hand and pushed herself back onto her feet. However, before her hand could touch the ground Hiccup moved to her side and kneed her in the stomach. Astrid felt air leave her as she was kicked.

She backflipped entirely on instinct and landed unsteady and still winded. Her left hand was on her stomach and her right hand was still poised, to defend or attack.

Astrid huffed and waited for Hiccup's follow-up.

Her jaws were locked and her eyes were frowning stubbornly.

Astrid checked herself, and noted she was winded, but she wasn't in much pain. She caught her breath while Hiccup observed. She swallowed thickly. She had already lost. No matter what happened in the match or the next, she last lost. Hiccup was more adaptive, more flexible, and he hadn't used much strength against her. He wasn't even breathing _that_ hard.

When she regained her breath, she let herself attack. Hiccup, wouldn't have attacked not knowing if she was ready again. She didn't ask herself why she believed that amount of honour from Hiccup now.

When Astrid attacked, Hiccup blocked, but then, he sidekicked. With his prosthetic foot.

Was he trying to deliberately lose to her?

Didn't he want Fishlegs to join dragon training?

When Astrid grabbed a hold of Hiccup's thin prosthetic, she already felt something was wrong. Looking at Hiccup's expression, that wasn't the face of someone about to lose. That was the face of someone about to win, victory guaranteed, and there wasn't even an ounce of superiority in his expression.

Holding tightly onto Hiccup's leg, in their position... Astrid heard herself conclude... **He saw this coming.**

Hiccup's widened eyes, blinking thoughtlessly told her she had accidentally said it out loud. That was odd. She didn't lose. She didn't _accept_ losing, at least not as peacefully as she was feeling. And she definitely didn't mumble her thoughts out loud.

Hiccup continued his actions like their little moment didn't happen, and Astrid watched in slow-motion, slowly realising her mistake.

Hiccup jumped until he was completely in the air, both knees bent, and with his right leg above his left prosthetic leg that was kept at Astrid's chest.

He was in the perfect position. And yes. He had everything pictured already. With a strong kick, Astrid was forced a couple metres behind her, rolling on the ground, completely bested.

Hiccup landed on both his hands, and backflipped onto his legs.

Again, the audience had been ignored until then, when he returned to his surroundings. Though this time, people were silent.

Stoick stiffly announced, "Second round goes t- to Hiccup."

Hiccup gulped as he approached Astrid. He made sure he didn't actually kick her, more like push her, more with his actual foot and not the prosthetic one because he knew how much it would hurt, the fact learnt from the many reactions of those he fought. Astrid had already sat up, still facing down so no one could see her face.

Hiccup stopped in front her, wishing she didn't try to _bite his hand_ as he held his hand out for her, which was odd considering that was usually what he thought about when approaching dragons.

"You alright?" Hiccup said lowly, between the two of them.

Astrid swallowed and raised her head, pupils darting to Hiccup. She sighed heavily.

"Yeah."

She didn't take his hand, and stood up herself to dust herself off.

A few bumps and scratches she supposed. And maybe a slightly wounded pride. Few people on Berk could beat her now. She was even a fairly even match for Spitelout, Stoick's brother. Wow, and _she_ lost to Hiccup. Berk must be _delighted_.

...

**Tch. Can’t believe I’m making sarcastic comments…**

Hiccup was actually shocked. He supposed Berkians weren’t the only ones with prejudices. He had them too, and maybe even deeper ones. He hadn’t stopped to consider how people would have grown, and changed, with age, responsibilities and experience. He was making unfair assumptions about his old friends too.

Astrid was still prideful, but much less emotionally-driven and impulsive. She had grown from a motivated kid, to a hardened warrior that understood their world better, beyond its seeming role as their battleground.

 

"One point each. The next round will be the tie-breaker. Anytime you're ready."

Astrid didn't have her own sword and used just a random one from the rack. She jumped when she turned around almost straight into Hiccup's chin.

"Odin's mudge bucket! What’ar you standing behind me for?!"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and gestured to the weapon rack.

"Thought you have your own swords."

"Oh I only brought Inferno."

Astrid didn't think Hiccup was one to name his weapon too, like some other vikings did, and called their weapons greasily like they did their wives. But what kind of maiden name was Inferno?

"Then why aren't you using it?"

"Ha? It's kind of a fire hazard..."

"...Isn't that the point?" Astrid wouldn't mind a burn scar. Then she kicked herself for sounding like she'd lose for sure.

"I'd rather not set anyone on fire today."

Hiccup tested each sword for weight, and zoomed in into their texture to determine their durability. The heavy ones were powerful sure, but were big and bulky. The light ones didn’t look like they would stand under Astrid's strength, so he opted for a long and slender one for reach. Or maybe because it resembled his own Spatha more.

This time Hiccup noticed Astrid was less aggressive and relatively calmer.

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

They were at a stand-off, which was rare enough in a viking match that people were displeased. They were eager for Astrid to end it good.

They circled, and Hiccup suddenly used his sword to pick up a small stone and hit it towards Astrid's sternum to startle her and distract her. Hiccup stabbed his blade towards her upper left arm when she swung her right hand up belatedly to block the stone. She couldn't block in time and almost lost, but she spun back quickly.

Hiccup needed a draw at this round.

Hiccup followed after Astrid with a fiesty swipe that would have caused ringing in her ears if the sword he used was his.

In Hiccup's hands, a sword was wielded like it was alive. When Hiccup stabbed or swiped, it was like he was following the will of the sword.

Astrid saw an opening after Hiccup' swipe and dashed past his sword to bring her sword down towards his left waist. She was stunned when metal met metal. Hiccup had raised his left knee to his chest and used his metal prosthetic as a shield. Hiccup twisted his knee and pushed Astrid's sword arm backwards, then slashed between them shallowly with his sword.

Astrid stumbled back. Swordfighting wasn't her best subject, but she was still decent. Hiccup was just too tricky, and the way he fought was so unlike vikings.

And apparently, a heavier metal prosthetic had its advantages.

Astrid took a deep breath and continued the fight.

Their swords met continuously and rapidly, the sound of steel meeting steel was starting to become a constant in the arena. The two opponents were both quick and agile, hence their swordplay was also terribly quick.

Astrid stabbed towards Hiccup's right shoulder and Hiccup ducked left, turned, and brought his sword close to Astrid's right leg. Astrid shockingly realised Hiccup was using her own move against her, but he didn't pierce skin, but twisted his sword and swung his sword upwards to her right, and Astrid met him with her own.

Hiccup advanced towards her with his body weight, where they were at a standstill against each other with their swords crossed between them, pointing up.

Astrid did try her best, but after acknowledging Hiccup's strength in fighting, was no longer hung up on winning. She, herself, of course, wasn't used to feeling this way about an opponent, about anyone.

When Hiccup smoothly closed in on her, she swallowed and their eyes met. Hers were wide and open, curious as to what Hiccup was about to do.

When Hiccup raised his head, his eyes looked a bit heavy, despite the easy smile.

"Sorry." 

Hiccup's sword slipped past her right from his left so suddenly that she didn't stop her own weight from falling forward, nor her own flying blade. She quickly put her left leg forward so she could turn around, and she stabbed without a thought.

Hiccup was there by her sword edge, a drip of blood slipped down his right cheek. His own sword glazed her right thigh.

"The third round is a tie. Astrid Hofferson and Hiccup are tied in their duel."

Hiccup retracted his sword, prompting Astrid to withdraw hers.

Hiccup smiled. "Well, since we're tied, I'll just have Fishlegs. You don't have to come. Thank you for the match." Hiccup walked past her and returned the sword. Just then, the nightfury re-emerged from its spot on the side.

Hiccup moved to Fishlegs. "The arena is a little too crowded for my taste so we'll start tomorrow. Have a good rest."

While leaving the arena, he suddenly realised this was the perfect opportunity. Stoick was stunned and too caught up with what just transpired. The consequences to his actions was the least heavy. When Hiccup raised his voice, the crowd was still quiet, so he needn't shout too loudly. "Stoick. You don't mind if we go flying for a bit, right?"

Stoick had yet to register being spoke to. He dimly nodded, and Hiccup gleefully hopped onto his beast and they fled the arena. Whether Stoick said yes or not, he needed a break. He would take anything for a yes. **Man, he can finally fly!**

Toothless warbled exuberantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy T.T I'm back with a very long chapter. Sorry for the very long wait. (Bows) I'm going away next week as well so I'm thinking of uploading 3 chapters this weekend before I disappear again. Forgive me DX


	21. Nightmare

Stoick only belatedly realised what he had agreed to, when the gush of air from Hiccup’s take-off blew the weapons’ rack off the ground. When he was about to call Hiccup back, the duo was already a speck in the glaring sun. Faced with Hiccup’s speed, Stoick’s legs gave slightly.

The arena was not completely silent, no. Stoick, like everyone else, heard the first thought that came to his mind. ‘What does this mean for Berk?’

 

Astrid didn’t take combat lightly. Everyone knew this since forever. At first, when she was still at the crux of maturity, when she watched her own parents fight the dragons, not knowing if they would return safe or be taken away, fighting was simply necessity. She wanted to be able to protect her loved ones. It was only when she had her first dragon training that she received attention for it that wasn’t her parents’ or Snotlout’s. And with that came honour and expectations. 

But they were easy to meet, because honour was what she believed in. It was being unyielding, being strong and being firm. Being a viking was innate to her.

Then came Hiccup. The runt. To be honest, she hadn’t cared about him at first, then she not only proven to others how strong she could be, she also proved that to herself. It was then that his fumbling, his weakness and carelessness got to her. It wasn’t fair to her, not the rest of the vikings, that he should mess up while everyone was fighting to survive. Couldn’t he see that the Chief was counting on him, as a son and as an heir?

If was as if he responded to her words, and yes he did… he picked a side. Frustration and jealousy later, she realised, Berk realised, their whole Vikinghood realised, that no, he was never on their side. Had never been, and never ever would be.

The traitor hurt his father and sold his tribe, then rode off in the middle of the night before his exile ceremony and the nightfury’s execution, mocking them with his will of flight.

Their ‘wanted’ prints for him lasted for years, but no news came for them. Only a distant rumour of the _Dragon Conqueror_ , came to Berk once in a blue moon.

Gobber and Stoick were cut by the riff between them, the size of a small boy and his nightfury.

Over time, Berk forgot about their shame for the better, and Berkians lived with their heads held high. Hiccup would bear all the blame.

And now, what did this mean for Berk. That their greatest young warrior fell to _Hiccup_. Hiccup came back with an authority no one bestowed upon him but had been found within himself, with the power of – as much as they didn’t want to admit – dragons. They hoped to control him, to supress him, to prove him wrong… Now Hiccup’s win against Astrid put doubt back into vikings’ minds.

But they weren’t that pervasive in Astrid’s mind… Not as much as the thought of Hiccup himself.

With her decision made, she went back to cutting wood relentlessly. If Hiccup really proved what he needed to prove, they wouldn’t need much firewood for winter at all.

 

That night, Hiccup entered the mead hall, and surprise resounded in the hall. Surprise on Hiccup’s part, was more of the fact that it was freakishly odd to be amongst vikings without their usual contempt. He opened the hefty door to find eyes drifting to him with deftness. Wariness was still predominant, he noted, but what was previously hatred was now more of expectance and curiosity? How were they looking at him like he was a cute alien?

(He had heard of the concept faraway in Rome where scientists could prove anything and dreamers dream of the most outrageous things. One of those was that the Earth was round. Indeed. He could attest to that, certainly not with science but by experience flying over the globe.)

He quickly avoided their eyes. It was strange.

He wouldn’t mind if it was because he proved how humane dragons could be and they finally started to accept the idea, but when all he did was best their greatest young shieldmaiden, might they be contemplating his murder at that very instant?

Hiccup grabbed some food and retreated to the table at the furthest edge of the hall. The same one he had been abandoned to for most of his (old) life.

Clearly he hadn’t seen his own reflection, which would explain the attention Hiccup was getting.

Hiccup branded his usual-but-yet-to-be-seen-on-Berk charred hair that dried pointy and gravity-disobeying. His own face was slightly greyed and the glee exuding form his dragon was potent. The dragon’s face was half-lidded in ecstasy like he had just eaten the tastiest human, and his tailfins were fluttering as hard as prosthetic ones can. His earplates were not restful either. Overall, he just appeared like the few crazy dragons Berk rarely saw.

Even in crispness, the two looked good together.

Hence, people stared…

Astrid ignored the inaudible commotion that was floating in the air, and she stepped up stubbornly to Hiccup’s table, stopping him mid-bite.

“I’m going tomorrow.” Hiccup stopped himself midbite. “I’ll be there with Fishlegs. Don’t start without me!” The Astrid drove her axe half a foot deep in the wood, plucked it out with no effort at all, and then strutted away confidently.

Toothless rolled his eyes and sighed. _Women!_

 

Hiccup lay awake in his cell, watching the sky from his place on the straws. Flying must have kicked his inner dragon mechanism back into action again, because he couldn’t get any sleep even if he tried.

Then again, if he had been sleeping, he would’ve missed the distant dimly flaring light. It was green, unnoticeable in the dark night unless one was paying attention to it. It was a signal flare he often used with riders.

Hiccup sat up right away and felt excitement in his veins. He hadn’t heard from Hakru for some day and he was getting concerned.

Hiccup inspected the lock like he had done during his first night, brandished lock-picking wrenches and picks from his messed up hair. The lock clicked, and Hiccup let himself out of his cell quickly.

The flare he had seen looked too dim and faraway, so he needed Toothless.

Luckily, it was dead night, and Hiccup led Toothless to the edge of the woods, and continued walking deeper in, noticing evidences of Astrid’s destruction. A very small gap in the canopy where he could see sky, was sufficient. Hiccup secured himself to Toothless, and took off. Unlike Hiccup, who was slightly more awake at the prospect of seeing his friend, Toothless was half-dozing off due to the tiring flight the previous evening. They really had fun revising all their previous tricks, but now Toothless was feeling the effect.

They lifted into the sky very slowly. Hiccup could feel his goosebumps rising due to his threadbare clothes in the windy night sky.

When they were far enough from Berk, Hiccup let Toothless let out a very small plasma bolt that wouldn’t be heard even if there were ships right below them. Soon, a dragon blast was lighted from the island to their ten o’clock.

Hiccup flew in that direction, and Hakru and Blazedclimber flew up to meet him, but Hiccup made the motion of shivering and pointed down.

“How’s everything?”

Hiccup sighed, and plopped on the grass. “Not bad, which is just about as bad as I expected, not more. Astrid Hofferson challenged me to a duel and we drawed. In short, I’ve gotten two high potential students starting tomorrow, and gave Berk a glimpse of what I can do without my dragon.”

“Sounds like an adventure already, unlike what you made me do.” Hakru gave Hiccup an accusing tone to match his words.

Hiccup laughed. “Right. Sorry, sorry. Care to update me on your oh-so-boring trip? It’s been over a week already, right? You couldn’t have been that fast.”

Hakru snorted, “I know, I know. I was just on my way, thought I’ll drop by for the night and see if you’re doing alright. I sent messenger dragons to those you told me about, attached with the things you gave me. Told them about the problem and asked for their help. Every single one of them replies arrived within a week, Hiccup. You have a lot of support. Do you really have that many friends?”

“Many of them are people I helped, taught dragon riding or already knew how to fly dragons when we met. Flying dragons is a special thing, Hakru, you would know. They must feel the need to help me. I won’t say we’re close, but I only gave you the names of those I trust.”

“I see. At least you came for me first…”

Hiccup mocked a punch to Hakru’s head. Even Blazedclimber snorted.

“What about…”

Hakru patted Hiccup’s back. “I’m on it. I’ll be flying there tomorrow. The messengers I sent haven’t been received for this last week. Suppose there are no trouble with finding her, I will be back before your first month ends.”

“Good. And…”

Hakru threw a few orange shaped objects at Hiccup. “Here! God, stop bugging me about them!”

Hiccup grabbed the oranges delightfully. But Toothless snapped his mouth in front of Hiccup and had the last orange thrown. He moaned delightfully at the taste of the citrus fruit.

 

Finally, the first dragon training session.

This was something he risked everything for six years ago, because he wanted to protect Toothless, and change the idea that _dragons simply were mindless beasts that had to be out down_.

How things have changed, yet nothing really has.

Hiccup, like yesterday, dressed minimally. He was dressed in a loose-fitting tunic, the thin fabric betrayed the sweat stains from standing under the sun. The long sleeves couldn’t hide the toneness of his arms and upper body. It was another thin and old tunic that Stoick had left for him. Lastly, he wore his own pants, with furred boots. He had _Inferno_ attached to his left leg, and several shock capsules embedded in his sleeves, for emergencies. He turned around to see Astrid striding into the arena fearlessly as she did during her first dragon training, and well Fishlegs, like he’s about to change his mind.

Toothless was at his usual spot, but this time, he wasn’t blending in. His eyes were narrowed and wide open at Astrid. It was an unnerving sight not only for Astrid but also for the rest of the vikings that surrounded the arena.

Hiccup had caused a big commotion with yesterday’s duel, and he supposed it was time he got some attention. This was a good opportunity. But mainly, Fishlegs and Astrid were his priority. The deal and the attention aside, he really did want to teach them. Fishlegs and Astrid would take this knowledge, and move on to do more, Hiccup knew, and he had a good feeling about them.

Regretfully, like his other students, they refused his first request with vigor.

“Now, I would need you to kindly remove all your weapons, yea?”

“What? NO!” “No way, Hiccup! You trying to get us killed?”

Well, instincts were always hard to fight against. “Dragons in general have good smell, and these captured ones know the smell of viking weapons very well. You aren’t fooling anyone. You are only asking for trouble.”

Astrid glared. “Then why don’t you remove yours?”

Hiccup eyed his Inferno. “ _Inferno_ helps with dragon training, and it smells of dragon so it’s fine… Just, trust me.”

Fishlegs sighed and left his weapons by the side of the arena, but Astrid, as no more than a show of resistance, threw her axe to lodge it in a wooden beam. Hiccup knew of the dagger in her right boot, but chose not to comment on it.

 **Here goes nothing.** Hiccup gestured for the first cell to be unlocked.

_Knock ‘em out, Hiccup._

**Yea. I know.**

The thick metal core wooden log was lifted out of the aligned holes that make up the locking mechanism of the thick door, to reveal a… nightmare.

Hiccup frowned. Of course things would be made difficult for him. **If he wanted to train dragons, by all means! Why not start with the most dangerous one first?**

The nightmare charged out of its cell, running headfirst into any threat. It spit fire at anyone it could see out and around the arena, but people were calmly moving out of the way, then closing back the gap afterwards. Hiccup kept calm and still, unbothered by the nightmare’s rage. Astrid, however, was already reaching for her dagger. She rush over to Fishlegs and held a defensive stance protecting him. She would only need an instant to reach for the dagger and she would have a good chance of killing the nightmare. It was a hard bet, but she could.

When the nightmare finished its run around the arena’s perimeter, it narrowed its eyes on a bloodthirsty girl and a chubby boy. **_Ohh yeaaaahhhhHHHSSS!_**

Just when it reached its claws out for her, it saw her pull out a sharpened dagger, and it saw red. They are all KILLERS!

The claws of the enraged nightmare lengthened even more, and its whole being burst out in stronger flame. The girl underestimated it! It could kill her! Crush that pathetic object their kind STAB HIS FAMILY WITH!

Another boy was standing to the side, but the nightmare ignored him. He was different. He was one of them. Kind off. He smell of dragons and the wild and the wind. Hiccup’s countenance was exotic but harmonic, and very alert, like a creature slow and steady yet ready to pounce.

The dragon made the mistake of blinking, and Hiccup was already before it, his _Inferno_ at full length blocking the hit from the dragon claw that was surely stronger than Astrid’s dagger.

Following that, Hiccup twirled the sword around so it was pointing at the nightmare with it.

Then they were at a standstill.

The silhouette was scary, and every inch screamed wildness. Hiccup stood firm and stable with his wide stance and slightly slouched body. His elbow was unlocked, and he had an emotionless face. His special sword was flaming.

The nightmare looked to have stopped in its actions, its intent to kill was unwavering but it was thinking, weighing its options. It was confused by the human. He smelled like dragon, looked weak and came out strong, and now that it had the nightmare at knife point, it wasn’t killing it.

Then, like witchcraft, Hiccup tilted his sword sideways, and slowly swung it two rounds, backing the dragon up. In a swing, he retracted the blade and secured it, all while having his right arm still up and put between him and the Nightmare.

“I won’t hurt you.” Hiccup confessed. “I’m sorry.”

The nightmare gritted its jaws. The flames around it burned hotter.

Hiccup might have sufficiently proven that his Toothless was sentient. But any Berkian would argue that nightmares were not. Neither could the other dragons be. The 300 year war was never one-sided. Dragons were merciless and vicious. Dragons just didn’t _listen_.

Hiccup took a step forward, close to the flaming body, his hand still hanging out.

“I’m sorry they hurt you.” The long scar that ran down the dragon’s left leg was large, but very much faded and taut. It had to be from a long time ago when it was still a youngling, and it looked to be enough to lose its limb. Almost. 

The dragon’s pupils dilated and its eyes widened. Its claws tightened and retracted slightly.

“I’m sorry they kept you here. And won’t let you see your family and friends.” Hiccup stepped closer again. He would have been burnt if not for the nightmare dimming its fire.

“And I’m sorry that you can’t remember much of your older life… being kept so far away must have taken the queen’s effects off you, right?”

No one could explain why the dragon was absolutely still and silent, listening to Hiccup’s every word. From behind Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs that had the closer view were shocked. The nightmare’s eyes tightened slightly with what looked to be tears. The nightmare could smell so many things on the man in front of him, dragons, metals, and people. The eyes of the human, however was very clear, and sharp instincts told the nightmare that the human wasn’t fearful of him. The human had already accepted him, even though it hadn’t done anything in return.

Toothless crawled lazily forward slightly, clueing the nightmare to its presense. He didn’t talk, since this was Hiccup’s time. But the nightmare looked back at Hiccup and narrowed down one particular scent that wasn’t immediately obvious. It was the scent of a very trusting dragon, completely affectionate and possessive.

Hiccup smiled with slight mirth. “You just smelled him on me, didn’t you? Toothless isn’t big on sharing so he tends to scent me a lot. Or maybe he’s just a big cuddler.”

Hiccup stood with his hand one foot from the dragon’s snout. In their interactions, the nightmare fire was extinguished. The first time a nightmare willingly did that in Berkian presence.

The nightmare closed its eyes and leaned into Hiccup’s hand, earning a light scratch. Hiccup stepped backwards slowly, leading the nightmare back.

“Astrid, back up from Fishlegs.”            

 

Fishlegs was left intrigued. His fear left from watching the dragon. They weren’t mindless. They were just misunderstood…

Hiccup replaced his hand with Fishlegs’ and backed to the middle between Fishlegs and Astrid. “Relax, Fishlegs. Scratch it a little. You’re doing great.”

Fishlegs didn’t know how he knew, but everything he knew about the nightmare told him the nightmare was enjoying it, and was slowly trusted him. He scratched it more happily, and surprised himself with a daring move to scratch just under its jaws, in close proximity to its teeth.

Hiccup was happy, but he had more in mind. He led the nightmare back to Astrid as well, and waited until she was stable too. It didn’t seem as instinctual for Astrid to understand the dragon, and the dragon leaned back slightly after smelling a dagger on her, the sound of him gritting his teeth was loud enough to warn Astrid and cue Hiccup in to what was happening.

Hiccup drew its attention again. One look from Hiccup made Astrid finally submit her dagger.

“Thank you, for trusting me. I won’t let them hurt you anymore, but you still have to be locked up for now… Without a bonded rider, it’s easy for the queen to control you again.” Hiccup calmly explained.

The nightmare didn’t resist, nor did it listen full-heartedly. It let itself be brought back into its cell without anger, and Hiccup swore he would free all these dragons as soon as possible.

Hiccup exhaled and spoke to his students with renewed vigor.


	22. First Time Riding (Flying)

The first day went better than he wished it to. Astrid and Fishlegs were officially initiated, and Berkians were shown, for the first time, a more docile side of dragons. Today, his students were to get more initiated to dragon- _riding_.

 Of course, with Stoick’s permission and under his watch.

 Hiccup stood with him at the edge of a nearby cliff awkwardly.

 Hiccup had expected more resistance when he asked Stoick, but wasn’t met with any, apart from the guarantee for Astrid’s and Fishlegs’ safety. If Hiccup didn’t ensure their safety, surely he would fail his challenge to make Berkians accept dragons. Stoick didn’t have to worry.

 Behind him, Toothless was poking on the ground with his tailfin. Hiccup was proud. His bud was now capable of drawing and Hiccup wanted to show off to the world.

 As the sun rose, Astrid and Fishlegs reported.

 “Alright! Fishlegs first!”

 Astrid crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you always put him first. I can do it.”

 “What I say, goes, so ‘Fishlegs first’ means exactly that.” Hiccup replied plainly and the tinge of coldness was apparent. Astrid wasn’t expecting the icy retort to her offhanded remark. Stoick was not expecting Hiccup’s attitude towards Astrid. He was anything but hostile during their fight.

 After silencing Astrid, Hiccup got Fishlegs seated on Toothless with haste, patting his Toothless as consolation for the weight he was about to carry. Hiccup had brought ropes as extra harness for safety.

 A moment later, they took off, leaving Astrid on the cliff with Stoick.

 Astrid huffed and dropped down by the cliffside. And Stoick must be indulging her as he sat down as well.

 “Aren’t you busy, Chief?” Astrid wasn’t sure if she was feeling angry at being snapped at, or embarrassed for being seen by the Chief.

 “I can attend to them after. Tell me, how are you, Astrid?”

 Having grown up under Stoick’s watch and protection, Astrid saw him as half a father too. And she missed this. A heart-to-heart which she couldn’t have after her father died.

 “I’m doing well, sir…” Astrid gave Stoick a reassuring smile, and they enjoyed the sight of the rising sun together. It wasn’t warm, though there was no wind.

 A period of comforting silence later, and Hiccup and Fishlegs were nowhere to be seen, Stoick stood up. Astrid was expecting him to get back to his duties. The Chief was a busy man. He shouldn’t have to spend time there. But Stoick hadn’t. He held out a hand, pulling up the questioning Astid.

 “Show me your throwing. I haven’t seen your fighting for too long, and I definitely see improvements from two days ago.”

 Astrid tightened her grip on her axe, eagerly nodding yes.

 She gave it her best and deadliest. Every throw was quick and precise, yet still very strong. The sight of Stoick nodding silently behind her filler her with pride. When she finished, Stoick looked so proud when he patted her shoulder.

 Stoick kindly offered. “You have grown into a good woman, Astrid. How’s your mother?”

 “She’s as well as she can be. I haven’t told her about volunteering though… I fear she would worry.”

 “Your mother is a strong maiden, raising you up she was always brave. She never stopped you from what you were meant to do.”

 Astrid nodded. “She never stopped me in anything, Chief. I- I just want to give her a peace of mind. She’s more tired these days…”

 “Astrid, she will never be too tired to listen. And she trusts your judgement more than you think she does. Eymid might be ill, but that doesn’t make her any less wise.”

 “Do you think _this_ is wise, sir?”

 Chief was quiet for a long time. “I don’t know… Hiccup is more and more… persuasive. What he can do, is something we have never known. But no matter, Berk will always be the first priority. I won’t allow him to threaten Berk.”

 Astrid had to bite her tongue, but it was as if Stoick heard her question. He levelled her with a generous look.

 “Do you miss him…”

 No one on Berk dared to ask that for years. Because of the anger at Hiccup and Stoick’s grief. But now it was as if the ice over Hiccup’s name was slowly melted, and Stoick’s grief was finally healing.

 “Aye, Astrid. I did. No one can lose a son and not wish he didn’t.”

 “But do you miss Hiccup, or do you miss having a son?” The instant those words escaped her mouth, Astrid wanted to swallow them back. The chief willingly sat with her, inquired about her general wellbeing and all she could do was poke at tender wounds that had just reopened with Hiccup’s return? Not to mention her question sounded more accusing then she wanted for her chief to hear.

 “That was out of line. I apologise,” Astrid quickly recovered.

 “You are forgiven.” Stoick contemplated seriously, and realised he didn’t have an answer. He missed the hopeful eyes, considerate dinners, presence that reminded him he still had a home, barely. Was his feelings ever directed to Hiccup? What was one thing he loved, and missed about Hiccup, he asked himself then.

 The only thing that came to mind was… when young Hiccup welcomed him home after a hard day around the village, and just knew that he needed a hot mug of tea and a massage. He had the time then, and Hiccup was still a very… endearing son to him. Their routine would end with a lasting hug and Stoick would feel the tension draining out of him, and sleep taking over… They had stopped that slowly, as Stoick worked later and Hiccup’s thin, unviking-like body could no longer maintain the same weight in Stoick’s heart.

 Not wanting to dodge Astrid’s question and reminding himself to treat her as a warrior, not just any young maiden, he forced out what he could. “I’m not that sure about that. What he did, what he’s doing now-”

 They must have been practising for longer than they’d thought. A loud rustle behind them was followed by the nightfury’s return.

 Fishlegs dropped sideways off the dragon, his face slacken and his eyes were dazed. Hiccup, however, was smiling the widest anyone had ever seen him since he grew older.

 “WOOHOOO! Tell me it wasn’t awesome!”

 Fishlegs groaned, and Stoick thought it to be disagreement, then Fishlegs flipped himself over and stared smiling to the sky.

 He laughed. Which was weird because since when did Fishlegs laugh at anything other than dragon facts, and that had been when he was younger too.

 “I can’t. You know I can’t. Thank you, Hiccup, thank you so much.” Fishlegs wrapped him hands around Hiccup and pushed him onto the grass as well, marking the second time Hiccup was victim to his size.

 “I want to go ag-” The was Fishlegs’ eyes opened was instantaneous and unnerving. He held his mouth close and he tried to stand up and run to the trees, but his legs were jelly. He fell back down and he scrambled to the nearest tree then threw up.

 “You’re next, Astrid.” Hiccup gestured with two fingers at Astrid. Her determination to prove herself to Hiccup for him always putting her second, all escaped her mind.

 Stoick laid a hand on her shoulder then went off to Fishlegs.

 Astrid stood in front of the nightfury’s side, unsure of how to go up without potentially igniting the dragon’s wrath. Hiccup paid her no mind nor help, and continued his one-sided conversation with the beast.

 “Well, at least this time it’s lighter on you.”

 Gurgles. **_Sure, sure. Means I can go faster. Or are you gonna make me fly a snail speed again?_**

**No, of course not. Astrid is someone that doesn’t need coddling. Give her a challenge and you guarantee commitment. We’re not going easy on her. I want this to be a ride she remembers anytime anyone challenged dragon-riding.**

 The dragon roared agreement.

 Astrid was already seated. Hiccup shouted instructions to fasten Astrid well to the saddle, and he bent low to Toothless.

 With no signal, the trio launched in perfect sync, except for Astrid.

 Astrid had no idea what ever made her do this. One moment she was glaring at Hiccup’s hair, the next she was scrambling for her dear life. If not for the rope tying her to the saddle that she carelessly tied herself, she would have flown off from how fast the nightfury took off. Astrid didn’t know she was shouting and yelling with fervour.

When she thought they were levelling and slowing, the nightfury dove and she was staring straight into the world. They were so high up, it was unnatural, it was hostile and there was no grip on anything. They were where it was open and empty, and they were falling faster than if they free-falled. The dragon was still flapping its wings and diving faster. Up there, Astrid was powerless. She fisted into the front of Hiccup’s shirt, and finally learnt to fold herself close to her carrier when they accelerated. Just before they hit the sea, and it was horrifying to see the dark surface magnify a thousand times in mere seconds, until it was all that filled her eyes, the nightfury finally pulled them back up.

 But the next part of the ride, the nightfury doused them in the cold freezing water too many times. They were flying at high speed aside dolphins (she thinks) and… it looked like a gigantic long dragon that was swirling around underwater (or maybe it was just her).

 Then their acceleration brought them to a group of sea stacks that loomed before them.

 Astrid teared and she clutched even tighter on Hiccup’s shirt.

 The only thing that could be heard in Astrid’s mind, was: He hated her. He hated her so much. He wanted her to suffer. Everything they ever did to him, to bully him, ostracise him and threw him away, he remembered. He hated all of them! He was angry…

 “Turn back! Please! Please! Hiccup! Turn back please! I can’t die like this, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything. I want to see mom again… I’m sorry.”

 Astrid hid her face in Hiccup’s back and smelled charred fabric.

 The wind howling by her ear didn’t stop, but she felt turns and loops and inertia jerking her around. She opened her teary eye to see what was happening, and what was happening made her heart thud heavily in her chest. A moment happened in slow motion to her. Hiccup’s head was sideways, and his eyes met hers in his peripheral. There wasn’t anger on his face, nor any concern. It was very stoic and very matter-of-fact. There was also enjoyment swimming that seemed to be asking her to enjoy what he was enjoying.

 That instant ended, but Astrid let their movements and stunts overwhelm her. Everytime they were close to crashing and there seemed to be no saving them, Hiccup’s leg twitched and Toothless and him would instinctually shift in tandem and they would brush the seastack with no contact. The loops and turns and drops started to follow some sort of unexplainable rhythm. The movements were more than jerkiness to Astrid now. The turning forces and force of Toothless’ wingbeats kind of… made sense…

 Astrid let out a shriek when they neared a jutting rock, then they flipped around and the rock passed over Astrid’s head.

 Astrid only just felt that she was shifting along as well. It was natural.

 When they finally emerged from the treacherous sea stacks, the world slowed. It was as if they floated in the air over the waves, riding into the sun. Her tears had long dried, and Hiccup moved around. Astrid self-consciously returned her hands to her sides, but Hiccup stopped her.

 “Hold on, we’re still flying fast. Don’t let go.”

 Astrid didn’t know there was a saddle attached to Toothless’ side. Then she watched Hiccup produce a blanket.

 “Cover yourself, it’s gonna get cold up there. There are holes and hooks in the cloth that can be tied to the saddle.”

 After Astrid finished her task, she felt them rising again. This time, she watched them lift off, and glee hit her. She saw Berk, and the edge of the world, and then they were immortal. The orangy-purple of the skies merged and warm pink greeted them. They climbed higher and higher.

 They were untouchable. They were invincible. Much higher than she remembered them being, Toothless warbled happily and Hiccup laughed along. Still wrapped up in the warm cloth and the adrenaline rushing in her veins, Astrid laughed along. Then, Hiccup unravelled her hands from himself.

 A feeling of rejection washed over Astrid. Then he **stood up**! He turned back and crouched, unhooking himself from the saddle and hooking Astrid in instead.

 “Let me show you something.” Hiccup smiled toothily, and goosebumps were apparent on his exposed forearm and face. He didn’t seem to care about his shivers, and he readjusted her hands to a sturdy bar near the front of the saddle and made Astrid scoot forward.

 “I haven’t shown Fishlegs this because he was too terrified to let go. I’ll just show you then, what it’s like to fly!”

 Hiccup backflipped over Toothless’ front and fell.

 Astrid scrunched up her face and yelled.

 Then she felt Toothless follow Hiccup and prayed they caught up. She searched the world for him, and felt amazement. He matched Toothless and Toothless matched him. They were falling side by side, Hiccup’s hands were freed at his side, opened up as if he was being hugged by the wind. Toothless was the same way too. The Hiccup raised his chin with Toothless and they exchanged a happy expression. Hiccup’s eyes met Astrid’s over the nightfury’s body.

 “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

 Hiccup couldn’t fall forever, and Toothless turned himself to allow Hiccup access to the saddle.

 Swiftly, Hiccup unattached the saddle safety latches while Astrid held onto Hiccup, for her own safety or Hiccup’s, she didn’t know. As he got seated, he shouted. “Tornado drive!!!!!”

 Toothless started spinning at high speed an angle to the sea surface and his wings touched the water, making sprays and leaving a beautiful trail behind them.

 Lastly, they flew over Berk, their- no, Astrid’s home. There was magic in the flurry of activities in this early morning, there was life in the bustling port, and there was beauty lighting the world, from their perspective high up in the sky.

 She understood Fishlegs’ reaction now.

 Back on the hill they assembled, she was puking her intestines out, and her legs didn’t exist. She lay on the grass beside the Fishlegs that was still out of it.

 Beside them, Stoick was increasingly concerned that Hiccup might have mentally incapacitated Berk’s two best and brightest.

 Toothless dragged himself over to them, and to Hiccup who was just sitting beside them, sneezing. The dragon burnt the ground beneath him, and lay down, leaving an obvious empty space for Hiccup to fill.

 Behind Chief Stoick, the sky never seemed more familiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to the end D: 29 Chapters max, maybe more if I feel like adding on...


	23. Raid

Hiccup anticipated a raid. He’d been on Berk for almost three weeks already, yet there wasn’t any sign of a raid. It wasn’t right.

 Everyday, he would see Fishlegs and Astrid in the mornings, then spend the afternoon in the forge, occasionally help Gobber and Tuffnut, but mostly he chose to maintain his own equipment instead. His place was not beside Gobber, in the forge anymore. It was down in the prisoner’s cell and beside dragons in the arena. Besides, he was the only one with knowledge about making saddles for dragons.

 Hiccup brushed some ash from the leather wound saddle he was working on, and let out a small, proud smile at his handiwork. It was dropped when he sensed Astrid’s presence behind him.

 “It’s done. Here.” Hiccup fitted the saddle over the nadder, and Astrid watched intently how Hiccup attached the buckles expertly.

 “Hop on and give it a try.”

 Hiccup would have never seen this day coming, of hearing Astrid ask for an actual saddle for the dragon she bonded with, watching Hiccup create it every step of the way, fit it on the dragon she named, and then sitting on it proudly in the middle of their forge where everyone could see.

 Fishlegs and Astrid grew more and more attached to Meatlug and Stormfly every day.

 Unease still shadows Hiccup’s mind, to see them leading their dragons around the village. What if the dragons were startled? What if something went wrong? What if Berkians’ hatred for him made them deliberately sabotage Meatlug and Stormfly?

 Will they truly be accepted by Berk, like Fishlegs and Astrid had accepted and loved them?

 The same scene would enter Hiccup’s mind. The scene where Toothless was forced down, chained and dragged away from him, then his father’s cold eyes telling him he would never see Toothless again, until his execution ceremony. But it was ridiculous for him to worry about Fishlegs and Meatlug, Astrid and Stormfly. They wouldn’t have to go through that. That was history from a different time. The village saw the change in Fishlegs, Astrid, and they watched every interaction between them and the dragons, from initial guardedness to finally bonding. Even if there wasn’t immediate differences, he had come a very, very long way from six years ago.

 Astrid looked very much deep in thought, but softly, and contentedly, she patted her dragon and caressed the saddle.

 “Thank you, Hiccup…”

 Hiccup nodded and bowed his head, immersing himself in forgework again, acute senses formed an imaginary vision of Astrid showing herself out.

 A strong wave of gratitude for Astrid came over Hiccup.

 While he was fighting his own past and his own demons, Astrid was fighting her own. He might be facing his own nightmare, standing here in the village that condemned him and threw him away, Astrid was fighting herself. Afterall, she was riding the same creature that killed her father and sickened the only kin she had left. Hiccup wondered what goes through her mind, every day when she laughed and played with Stormfly and every night when she cried by her bedridden mother’s bed.

 A crashing noise came from the front of the forge, followed by Gobber’s yelp and Stoick’s gasp. Toothless gave a particularly poisonous look at the curtain that separated the front of the forge from the work area in the back. Hiccup internally chastised Toothless which earned him the same wicked glance. The dragon loved his nap.

 When Hiccup emerged, it was to chaos in the front forge. Stoick stood guiltily amongst fallen metal and blades which Gobber stood by the burner exasperatedly. Tuffnut had an annoyed look as well. From Hiccup’s experience back in this forger for the better part of his life and another almost-a-month, he would say Stoick aced his grand entrance into the cluttered forge again.

“Hey.” Hiccup, of course, had his unimpressed but slightly amused eyebrow cocking ready for anything Berk threw at him. This was also one source of nostalgia coming back from his younger days that he didn’t mind.

 “Oh. Hiccup, you’re here. I-er, want to speak to Gobber… Ya.”

 Diplomatic. Hiccup would describe Stoick’s interaction with him as that. And awkward.

 “Sure.” Hiccup whistled, and not a moment later, Toothless trotted behind Hiccup and they exited the forge for their evening flight.

 Without Stoick’s barely-suppressed condescendence and disappointment, and Hiccup’s shield of strong-willedness and dauntlessness, what was left was basically that – awkwardness. And it had been like that since Fishlegs’ and Astrid’s test rides. He returned with a Astrid that sat in silence for two days and two nights straight, not leaving that same cliff, and a Fishlegs that started spending more time than ever in the arena furiously documenting observations that went beyond dragon firepower or speed (like their diet or mood swings). Hiccup hadn’t consciously thought about it, but it was also at that time that Stoick, and consequently more of Berk, started behaving around him without the usual judgement.

 And Hiccup sympathised with Stoick more than he wanted himself to. The deviant son returned with capability, as if mocking his culture. And suddenly it turned out maybe the fact that what he believed in all his life might just be one huge assumption on their history’s part. Who once was their enemy and their traitor now held a sort of power over them with ideas that get harder to deny every passing day. Hiccup didn’t have to feel bad for what he was doing, to be honest, since he _was_ trying to save the archipelago. But he still couldn’t help but try to give back the same amount of politeness and un-intrusion Stoick showed. He could do at least that.

 Even before everything ended between them, they barely had any understanding between them about anything. The tentative interactions they shared nowadays, that was so naked with hesitation was proof of that.

 He looked at the weary Chief that loved and protected Berk with all he had these years, and decided he didn’t want any guilt or fear for Stoick. Stoick didn’t deserve that. But it was with that admission that Hiccup finally realized that what he had been doing all these years, avoiding Berk and giving up on his past, as never really letting go. Empathising with Stoick, viewing Berk as somewhere that deserved freedom from their struggles instead, was what Hiccup needed all along.

 This time, after this was all over, Hiccup would be free as well.

 Hiccup made a quick trip back to his cell and donned his intricate scale-lined leather flight suit. He led Toothless towards the same Cliffside he used for Astrid and Fishlegs. Half a day of not flying was decades to them, considering they had flown the world for years. Hiccup relaxed his body over Toothless’, and let Toothless fly him instead.

 

Much later, he jolted to consciousness. Something was weird. Something had been weird all day, but he hadn’t put his finger on it. Toothless, as well, as restless and grumpy. Now it was there, around him. Something wasn’t letting up.

 Hiccup patted Toothless, as the nightfury had been lightly dozing as well. Flying rounds over Berk, Hiccup narrowed down his senses one by one, listening out for wind, waves, even birds and animals. Then Toothless gave an out-of-place twitch and Hiccup gasped in shock.

 He couldn’t believe he was so stupid!

 The minute he expanded his magic senses as Toothless also urged him to, he finally found it. What had been unsettling them.

 They were sensing the Red Death’s reach, casually enveloping Berk and beyond.

 Her control had never spread so far except for when the raids happened, during which she would concentrate her control in one direction where she sent her dragons, allowing her more reach. Now, her blanketing aura was spherically covering beyond Berk. And better yet, Hiccup and Toothless sensed a horde coming.

 After almost a month, the raid was upon them.

 Hiccup directed Toothless back over the Hofferson house, yelling for Astrid.

 She ran out, completely bewildered at seeing Hiccup’s urgent look.

 “Hiccup?”

 “Astrid, the raid is coming. Please get everyone ready. And lock Stormfly and Meatlug in, they might be influenced.”

 “Harh? Hiccup, the raid never comes before sun sets. And why are _you_ telling us to lock dragons up? I thought you-”

 “Astrid! Please! Do as I say!” Hiccup turned Toothless away, thanking the gods that he was wearing his flightsuit. It would surely do more than protect him against the cold judging from where he was venturing.

 “Where are you going? Hiccup!” Astrid’s voice went from loud to soft to nothing. Hiccup double checked his suit and noted he did have all his equipment with him, except for _Vein of Thunder_ and his Spatha.

  **You ready, Bud?**

  _Yes._

 Hiccup folded himself along Toothless, and they speed up infinitely faster forward, high up in the clouds, above where the raiding dragons would be able to fly.

 Hiccup occupied himself by letting his magic senses overtake his mortal senses, feeling Berk’s position, the Red Death’s nest and the surrounding islands and dragons. Then the raiding dragons that they had passed a while ago. Definitely more. A bigger batch. Meanwhile, wild dragons in surrounding forests and seas dropped in number compared to when he just came back.

 If he had been able to sense this much six years ago, he would have noticed that the Red Death’s army quadruple-folded and the dragon population elsewhere dwindled. These last few years had been particularly fattening to the Red Death, in the 300 years she inflicted her rule upon dragons and vikings.

 The nest neared up ahead quickly. Hiccup and Toothless shot downwards into the crater of the volcano, and landed where they had before.

 Hiccup stepped down from Toothless, and faced the hole that harbored the Red Death. He had never tried that before. Now was a good time to.

 Hiccup opened his senses again, and connected with Toothless to stabilize them, before he reached out for the bottom of the hole.

 Hiccup found something. A shape. Big. Heavy. And deep. It wasn’t sleeping, it was listening, waiting.

  **Do you recognize me?** Was the first question Hiccup gave it.

 Silence.

  **Do you hear me?**

 Silence.

  **Do you remember this dragon then? This nightfury.**

Hiccup was careless, and the resounding explosive growl accompanied by a blasting ringing noise forced him to his knees. Outside of Hiccup’s consciousness, Toothless’ eyes widened in fear. He raised his head, turning around the cave as if expecting something to hurt them, then he flew over Hiccup, protecting his rider from everything with his body and wings.

 The Red Death was forcing submission by force of will, most if not all of its power was downed onto Hiccup and Toothless.

 There was no voice they hear, only ringing. Only frustration and barks.

 A stab of bad pain woke Hiccup up from his struggle to maintain his own consciousness. He was trapped under something. No, it was Toothless. His dragon was protecting him from as much as possible…

 Amidst all the horrible noise and mixing feeling of shock, fear and anger, Hiccup found this precious warmth from within himself that cocooned his heart and mind when he let it.

  _Hiccup._

 It was their bond. Dammit, they were fucking recognized by the gods so he was not gonna let a fucking mindless lizard beat them into SUBMISSION!

 Hiccup pulled the dagger from where he stabbed deep into his right thigh.

  **Toothless, we’re going in!**

 They pushed even closer to each other, and their bond expanded, then they directed it straight down into the bottom of the volcano.

 Hiccup heard before he felt it. They pierced through the resistance of the non-sentient beast, and _hurt_ it. Its control wavered, and it was all they needed.

 Hiccup hopped onto Toothless and they disappeared within ten yard of the nest in three seconds.

  ** _Hiccup, harh, how are you?_**

 Hiccup gritted his teeth as he tied a rope around his upper thigh tightly to stop the blood.

 Damn. It was good thinking that he trained himself to do this – stabbing himself in the thigh if he ever felt his grip on himself or his bond with Toothless slipping – but did he really have to stab so deep?

  **I’m okay. You?**

  ** _Yeah. Good, of course._**

  **It doesn’t have conscious thoughts, all these centuries, it’s been enslaving dragons and eating dragons on pure instinct.** “What the hell even breeded it?” Hiccup launched into his curses as he treated himself and check Toothless over.

 “Fuck this. FUCK. I’m freaking killing it! It definitely remember you and I, did you even hear how angry it was? Well, fuck yeah. We’ve been in and out of its cave again and again after you escaped her control and it couldn’t do anything about us! I’m not letting this go on. I can’t believe it tried to take us too. ARRRGRHHHHH!”

 Hiccup had to stop his rant as they merged with the high altitude wind system. It was past midnight already, and they would reach Berk in another two hours max, with how fast they were flying.

 When he approached the burning village that was Berk, he frowned and the frustration at the Red Death returned. The attack force was so much stronger this time. Berk was not holding out well.

 From his place in the sky, Hiccup could see that the fight had already spread throughout Berk so there was no way for him to turn them away by his training ways. The number was too large for Toothless to forcefully break out of the Red Death’s control, not especially after how much strength he had exerted to protect himself and Hiccup back at the nest.

 Hiccup and Toothless had to do this by force. Scanning the whole fight scene, Toothless shot bolts of fire at several dragons that had vikings at the death’s door, much weaker than his usual plasma blasts that would at most, knock the dragons out unconscious.

 Ten minutes into the fight, Hiccup was already tasting failure thickly. Vikings had died under his (lack of) watch and dragons were dying left and right. Yes, he wasn’t killing them, but he was practically helping vikings kill them easier by stunning them or knocking them unconscious.

 Hence, he and Toothless only stepped in for fights that were really threatening the Berkians’ lives. As for the others, Toothless would fire between the engaging parties, driving dragons off most of the time. Sometimes, it was even when a Berkian had a dragon by knife point that he did so, giving a dragon the opportunity to flee.

 What he saw in the Berkians’ eyes shocked him – horrified betrayal, just like six years ago.

 Hiccup forced himself to turn away.

 Why? Was it shame?

 Looking down, he saw Stoick surrounded by two nightmares and a zippleback, and his heart thudded heavily in his chest out of fear.

 One nightmare sprayed dense fire the Stoick from the front, while another swiped its tail from behind. Dodging the fire, Stoick was hit by the tail and was flung five feet away like a rag doll.

 It was like the surroundings were whited out except for the fight that happening to Stoick, Toothless landed heavily between the advancing dragons.

 Hiccup was angry, angry at dragons, angry at vikings and angry at the Red Death. Most of all, he was angry at himself.

 The presence of the duo might have intimidated the dragons.

 “KILL THEM!” Stoick’s voice boomed from behind Hiccup. Stoick’s voice washed over Hiccup, screaming at him. Hiccup felt the scaly beast beneath him.

  **No, he can’t. He had chosen a side, and it’s not with the vikings’, not with the dragons’, but his own fucking side.**

 Hiccup shouted in draconic language, “RUN AWAY!!!”

 Toothless’ subconscious echo of his roar must have been sufficiently to momentarily lift the dragons out of the raiding rage. They retreated from them.

 “Hiccup!” It was Stoick, growling from behind. Instead of avoiding like he did the looks and scoldings from other vikings, Hiccup turned and faced Stoick head on.

 Something from his expression must have told Stoick what he needed. Stoick looked down, tearful and resigned. It was painful in the chest for Hiccup. He wasn’t ever going to be able to stand with the vikings, even with all this deal about protecting vikings from the Red Death, he was still on his own side.

 Hiccup laughed coldly. For the second time, Stoick was giving up on _him_.

 They rose and intercepted fights elsewhere, making sure that there was no more deaths on his watch. He stopped using blasts to stun dragons, even if to save vikings. Each time he did, he was inevitably killing dragons anyway. Instead, they would step in and drive the dragon away without drawing blood.

 As the sun rose, the raid started to cease.

 Even before the dragons had fully retreated, Hiccup saw the Berkians advancing on him. Stoick stood off to the side with bandaged arm and head. They didn’t attack him, or Toothless. Hiccup would guess this raid became somewhat of a wake-up call to them, of where he stood in this war. He hadn’t hurt Berkians, protected them even.

 In their time of need, they had turned to him to stand by them and fight a common enemy, almost an outright invitation to return to them, and Hiccup spat on it.

 Hiccup raised his hands in surrender, waiting for Stoick to speak.

 He thought he had read the situation pretty well…

 “Hiccup, where were you all day?”

 Hiccup couldn’t help his frown and confusion.

 “Where were you before the raid started?” Stoick looked pained to be asking him that. “Astrid reported seeing you head off in the direction of the nest a few hours before the raid happened. _Did you start this?_ ”

 Hiccup’s eyes widened in horror… “Are you serious? You think I made this happen?”

 “You’ve proven that we have absolutely no idea what you’re capable of. Many, many times. It seemed like the most likely conclusion, considering your timely disappearance that gave dragons the window of attack they needed. You also flew in the direction of the nest when there was no reason for you to.” Spitelout spoke up, clearly what he and Stoick had discussed.

 Hiccup did head to the nest, knowing the raid would happen while he was absent. That was why he returned to warn Astrid. And Astrid was no idiot, so she followed him, discovering where he was headed. Hiccup didn’t want to reveal his understanding of magic. Revealing what he found out in the nest would prove futile at this point. Standing by Toothless’ side, faced with suspicion, Hiccup didn’t have any leverage to convince them he wasn’t behind the raid.

 Beside Stoick, Astrid and Fishlegs couldn’t even meet his eyes.

 “I didn’t.” Hiccup’s weak denial was little more than just white noise to the Berkians.

 Stoick spoke. “Hiccup, you have _intentionally_ escaped our watch and is suspected to have committed violation of our agreement in starting a raid that harmed Berkians. You will be placed under strict watch and until further notice, not to leave your cell for anything. Dragon training would be postponed from now on. Take him down.”

 Hiccup was that close to screaming as the vikings forced him down and shackled him.


	24. Eymid

Hiccup leaned his head back against the uneven wall. The silence in the cell was drowned by the life that bustling from outside. Toothless’ tail was swaying from side to side, too relaxed in Hiccup’s opinion.

Hiccup sighed deeply. Like always, things messed up. And it felt like there was little he could do.

The council couldn’t prove what they had suspected, but since then, he had been placed under extremely strict watch when he was out and about. Inside the cell, however, he was left to his own.

Astrid’s absence in the arena worried Hiccup as well.

People didn’t divulge anything to Hiccup, and Hiccup considered the possibility that Astrid felt guilty for ratting him out a second time. But from the way people were acting and from hearsay, Hiccup found that it was Astrid’s mother.

Well, he knew that she was sick, but from what and how sick, he didn’t know.

**You think I should help, Bud? Would they let me?**

_It isn’t like you to let people stop you._

Hiccup feigned a scandalised look at Toothless’ dismissal. **Harsh.**

_Of course, it’s my job to be harsh to you. If you’re this worried, you should do something instead of sitting here wondering, don’t you think?_

Hiccup snorted. **Yes, my lord. Your wish is my command.**

_Shut it, I’m not playing roleplay with you. You’re my master, not the other way around._

And annoying Toothless was almost Hiccup’s greatest pastime.

Hiccup called out, asking to be let out for a while. The day was too bright and the weather too good to be rotting in a cell.

Outside, Hiccup made his way to the forge by himself. He hadn’t been there since the last raid and its conclusion. He poked his head in the window and addressed the Gobber at hard work.

“Hey Gobber!” From around him, Hiccup received looks for startling Gobber like that. It was like his every move was placed under a microscope, not that Berkians would have ever heard of the instrument.

“Hiccup! What brings you ‘ere?” Gobber dropped everything at hand – literally – and came over to the window.

“Just asking… Where’s Astrid? I have something to tell her.” _Smooth._ He might as well have just shouted what happened to Astrid.

“Ahh… Astrid is taking care of ‘er mother.” Like Hiccup didn’t know that. Hiccup expectantly looked at Gobber, silently asking him to go on. People were starting to lose their interest with what Hiccup was up to by himself, and it gave their conversation marginally more privacy.

Gobber let out a deep breath. “I’m nah in the place to tell ya. Sorry ‘iccup.”

Hiccup nodded. “Is her house the same one as last time?”

Gobber muttered ya.

Hiccup made his to her house, meeting Stoick’s eye from across the courtyard. He wasn’t acknowledged. He reached the Hofferson front door soon, and he gave it a few gentle knock. But there wasn’t any answer, even after he tried again.

Hiccup very possibly would get into trouble for this. Pouting, he pushed open the front door.

Hiccup wasn’t sure what he expected, but definitely not that. The condition of the house was regretful and neglected.

The house was dark with boards and curtains blocking out light from windows. The air was stale and there were clutters of used bowls and utensils, smelling of food, tonic and brewed medicine. There was a lack of partition, as Hiccup had remembered from his childhood, between the living room and the kitchen. Hiccup could see into what used to be a kitchen.

It looked like a nursing room. Astrid sat by the bed set up on the floor, her head in the hands, out cold. Eymid Hofferson lay in the bed, barely breathing and but her breaths were exchanged with light whistles. Her eyes were sunken in, and she was pale. Under her neckline, there were open and leaking rashes that were too rotten to be just that.

She was struggling with a deadly poison. And Hiccup knew just what poison it was.

“Astrid. Astrid!” Hiccup nudged Astrid while calling softly. Suddenly, it became clear how cold Astrid was, and her shirt was damp with sweat.

Hiccup hurriedly picked Astrid up and placed her on her mother’s side. He checked her pulse and pupil dilation, she was fainted out of low blood sugar.

Might as well. Hiccup opened Eymid’s shirt and stared at the opened rashed and large pockets of pus that have broken lining her chest and stomach. It was late. There was still a chance, but small. Hiccup redressed Eymid and fed Astrid some water, before rushing out, running as fast as his crippled self could.

The healer. They had a healer – Gothi. On his way, his flustered running turned many heads and Stoick had to stop him.

“Hiccup. What is happening?”

“Astrid, she passed out in her house. And her mother is suffering from the Blackweed’s poison! She would be dead in less than five hours, I’m going to get Gothi now.”

Ignoring the reaction his words would cause, he dashed off to Gothi’s house.

When he arrived at Astrid’s house with Gothi, Gobber and many council members were already crowded around.

Inside, Stoick and Astrid’s neighbour tended to Astrid and Eymid. Ruffnut sat behind the unconscious Astrid supporting her while her mother fed water to Astrid.

“Step aside for now.” Gothi’s apprentice urged. Gothi looked tenderly at the daughter that overworked herself, taking care of her mother. She watched Astrid, gently caressed her forehead. Gothi shook her head solemnly, as if saying ‘The poor girl’s exhausted. She needs rest.’

Then she lifted Eymid’s shirt. Stoick turned away out of respect, being the only man in the room apart from Hiccup. She stayed silent for Eymid.

Hiccup spoke up. “She has the Blackweed’s poison.” His words startled the occupants of the room.

“You know the poison?”

Hiccup nodded. “Let me see where she got the poison. Where the poison entered her body.”

Gothi, with the help of her apprentice, turned Eymid over and lifted the back of her shirt. It was on her back. They lifted the cloth covering the wound with herbs to reveal a very small gash on her lower waist. Hiccup pulled the broken and unhealing skin apart slightly. Black and pungent blood seeped through the two sides of the raw flesh, and Eymid let out a pained moan.

“That’s it. It’s the Blackweed’s poison, also known as Black Bringer’s Blood. It’s a breed of dragon that typically occupied tropical areas further south from Rome.” Sparing Berkians the confusing explanation, “it spreads very fast and is very deadly. Mrs Hofferson must have been scratched by a dragon that had come into contact with a migrating Black Bringer. If the poison wasn’t this small, she would be dead long ago. I didn’t know normal herbs could delay the poison this much.”

“Can you do anything?” Stoick had his left hand gripping Hiccup’s right forearm. It wasn’t a painful grip, but still tight.

“Same logic. Most dragon poisons can be cured with their saliva or some part of their body. The Blackweed’s poison’s antidote would be the dragon’s saliva. I can’t guarantee anything, seeing as the poison inked most of her body already, but there’s still a chance.”

Ruffnut looked more scared than Hiccup had ever seen her. Stoick had a pleading look in his eyes as well, though he didn’t want to show it. Did they think he wouldn’t help?

“Look, I’m going to need two days minimum. We’re lucky that the Black Bringers aren’t already back in the South. I can still catch them on Toothless. I’ll do what I can. In the meantime, do what you have been doing for Eymid. But be careful, I don’t know how Astrid hasn’t been poisoned yet, but the poison can spread with too much contact or if it enters the body through open wounds, the mouth or the eyes. Be careful.”

 

Hiccup packed a lot of clothes. Well, just in case he got the poison on his own clothing he could change. And if he got poisoned he would have things to treat his wounds with. Even he wouldn’t go near Black Bringers if he had a choice. These dragons were aggressive and flighty. No one ever got away unscathed when dealing with them, including Hiccup. He would hope being poisoned by it time and time again gave him more immunity, but it was unlikely.

He sharpened his weapons quickly, and in another two hours, he was off already. He wondered if Berk would think he abandoned Astrid and her mother by flying off unnoticed. Probably. But he didn’t want to deal with whatever emotion they would have.

In eight hours by high altitude wind system, he was nearing where he remembered Black Bringers would settle down at and breed, while the South would experience Summer.

Toothless descended to just above cloud level, and Hiccup kept a look out for the familiar cluster of black ice jutting out of the sea that was tainted by Black Bringer’s blood for decades.

Toothless’ sense of smell led them there easily. There, a cluster of three dozen Black Bringers at their breeding ground. It would be surely suicide to head in now. Hiccup had to wait for few Black Bringers to leave the nest to hunt. Granted, those that were on hunting duty were usually the strongest and most experienced ones in their group, but it was still better than fight all of them at once. Fuck, he really didn’t want to die when he had so much things to get done.

They turned South to find somewhere close to rest, where the Black Bringers most likely wouldn’t head due to the warmer temperatures. Hiccup and Toothless rested up, in preparation for their trial.

Night came. At night was when Black Bringers could camouflage for their hunts, and when Toothless could too. In comparison, Toothless had much stronger night vision, and so does Hiccup, by virtue of their bond. There was no telling really how much their bond altered Hiccup physically. So far, none had been strength related, but the sharpening of many of his physical abilities, and breaking the limit of many human senses. Hiccup tightened the protective equipment on some of Toothless’ weak spots. There was nowhere for the Black Bringer to even try to poison Toothless, sans his sensory organs. His attention earned him a coo from his companion.

Seven miles away, Hiccup and Toothless met their first prey. Correction: preys.

Two Black Bringers were swimming side by side, heading for the nearby caps, looking for meat.

They followed the two dragons to the North, and waited in the dark for them to split up. The surrounding was freezing, and completely dark in absence of the moon. Hiccup relied on his hearing more than anything else. And with his exposed skin, he felt for the wind. They settled down East to where the dragons tread so the incoming wind from the West wouldn’t expose their scents to the dragons. Finally, they were splitting up. Toothless and Hiccup followed after the bigger one, simply for the fact that its movements were less sharp and comparatively less precise. It was tired and less alert. They were fairly far in, in the darkness when Hiccup and Toothless made their presence known.

The dragon lunged for Hiccup, seeing him as food, but Toothless jumped in as Hiccup rolled away. A pungent scent told Hiccup the Black Bringer was releasing its venom on its claws and teeth. Toothless screeched and roared, softly, but no less angrily. Hiccup could sense confusion on the Black Bringer’s part. A dragon he thought he would be competing against for human flesh was defending a human instead. Hiccup brought out his _Inferno_ and did his best in subduing the dragon. It was twice as effective in the dark, when the fire was all the dragon could focus on, compared to when it’s bright. Hiccup and Toothless moved in harmony. Hiccup was nearing the dragon, prepared to extinguish _Inferno_ and deliver quick jabs to its pressure points. Toothless rounded from the back, prepared to jump on the dragon should Hiccup be in danger.

The Inferno must have drawn the other dragon over. While not intelligent, they recognised consistent and stable fire as human presence. The hungry growl was predatory. The dragon they almost had in their grasp snapped out of its trance and clawed at Hiccup. Toothless reacted instantly, dragging the Black Bringer back from Hiccup and Hiccup raised _Inferno_ to block the swipe that came from the second Black Bringer. While it was smaller in size, its size still beat Toothless easily. A pain in Hiccup’s shoulder told him the first Black Bringer had landed a solid hit on him. Poison was seeping well into him. **Damn.**

Hiccup ducked from under the smaller Black Bringer. Raising the Inferno again, he moved it eerily and captivatingly in the second Black Bringer’s eyesight, praying that he didn’t have to resort to hurting it. If he had to, he would. Slowly, the quiet groans of the dragon weakened. Hiccup felt that Toothless was dominating the first Black Bringer he was holding down. Hiccup’s Inferno was working against the other too. Hiccup neared steadily, and aimed the first jab to its throat that numbed its jaws. A swipe was infinitely better than a bite.

Then, next came its spine, numbing its movements.

Last, several other spots on its body to slow its heartrate and blood flow, bringing it to half-consciousness. Hiccup trusted Toothless to have the other dragon in good control, and set about to collect as much fluid from the Black Bringer’s mouth. Hiccup’s gloves burned in contact with the Black Bringer’s saliva, slowly. Soon, his container was mostly full with the Black Bringer’s saliva, with some poison contaminating the solution. It didn’t really matter. The two fluids only react in the blood stream, in the stomach or at high temperatures. They had two different densities as well, so it wouldn’t be too much effort to separate them.

With another thick helping of the goo sticking to its tongue, Hiccup collected one full container of the poison. He needed at least seven, including his own share, but it was a good start.

Slowly, he worked through the two dragons and topped five containers with little trouble. The two dragons were left snoozing when the duo left. Then, the sun had already risen, and they would have to wait another day.

At their campsite, Hiccup did his best to force the poison out of his body to little success. At least, he could slow the poison from spreading very well. Unlike Eymid, his wounds weren’t small, and the poison weren’t little. Hiccup would start suffering from the symptoms soon. Toothless licked Hiccup’s wounds over and over again to draw out the poison, much to Hiccup’s complains. He stubbornly refused for Toothless to share the poison, even if Toothless had much stronger immunity and small amounts wasn’t likely to even enter his bloodstream.

By nightfall, Hiccup was shivering and vomiting.

That night passed by in almost a blur. They had gotten eight containers of the saliva with difficulties that Hiccup couldn’t even recall having. His mind was clearer sometime in the early morning, when the initial effects of the poison passed. They weren’t on the high altitude wind system, Hiccup realised.

He also realised he worried Toothless badly with his shivering and fainting episodes. Toothless crooned and cooed to him. His earplates moving close to Hiccup’s thigh as if wanting to reach out and caress Hiccup.

Hiccup let himself rest. In another day, they reached Berk.

 

Eymid had woken up shortly, in bouts. She had been in constant rest for weeks, and Stoick wondered if Eymid wanted to have a last good look at her daughter before she finally passed. Things were solemn in the Hofferson household.

The day after Hiccup left, Eymid woke up for a solid two minutes. Astrid was crying through every sentence she spoke to her mother. Stoick didn’t know what to feel, watching a daughter break down from missing her mother so much. She hadn’t so much as exchanged a word with her mother for weeks. The two minutes were too precious to Astrid.

Eymid patted Astrid, called her strong, said her love, before falling back asleep again.

For the next day, it was the same, but finally, she had her first attack.

She convulsed uncontrollably and violently, blood leaked from her nostrils, her mouth, her ears and her eyes. Stoick had to forcefully carry Astrid away from the sight so she didn’t have to see. When they brought her Stormfly to cheer her up, she punched the dragon solidly, then broke down crying into the dragon’s scaly wings.

It was as if the dragon understood Astrid. She didn’t react violently in the least bit, but cushioned Astrid as she broke down. Her wings shielded Astrid like she was her own youngling.

The day Hiccup was supposed to return, Astrid sat on her doorstep for the whole day. Eymid’s second attack came at midday, then another near midnight.

Just a few hours, Gothi gave her. It was an optimistic estimate.

Astrid spent the rest of the night by her mother’s side, hugging her gently, enjoying the warmth she missed. When she woke up, it wasn’t because her mother started choking on blood in another attack, nor was it because her body went cold. There was ruckus outside her house, and Astrid recognised the familiar nightfury call. The door opened slowly, and Hiccup stepped through, two hands balancing a bamboo container and a mug. He poured out most of the liquid of the bamboo container slowly, and handed the mug over to Astrid.

“T-the whole thing?” Astrid had tear-stained cheeks and swollen vocal chords from crying.

“Yes. We can take it easy from the second serving onwards but she’s in critical condition. We are overdosing her but if we go slowly, she’s not going to make it past tonight. We’re betting on your mother being able to make it through for us to actually start the cure right.”

Astrid nodded furiously, and sat behind her mother, hugging her through the pain from the poison and what was supposed to be medicine.

With sunrise in three hours, Stoick, Hiccup and Gothi accompanied Astrid in the lonesome house.

Stoick was tired and sad, and he sat at the kitchen table in silence. Gothi held her mother’s hand and prayed to the gods. Hiccup sat far away in the living room, by Toothless and Stormfly. Astrid understood what it meant to need to be close to her dragon. By her dragon’s side was most calming and reassuring. Having Toothless and Stormfly in the house, was no longer bad anymore.

In the morning, Eymid woke up vomiting harshly and spitting out thick globs of the transparent goo fed to her in the night, along with thick black clotted blood that was stuck to the transparent substance. Hiccup launched into a flurry, saying that it had worked. He and Gothi started cooking the rest of the antidote with some water and herbs. Astrid and Gothi were told to apply it on her mother’s wound too.

After her mother drank the medicine, Astrid was beginning to see hope. Her mother was half-awake when she vomited out the medicine again and again, but they considered it success that she only vomited out twice when they fed her the whole bowl. Three hours later, they fed her another half pot.

“We should start feeding this with a bit of porridge. Your mother’s really malnourished.”

Astrid listened to Hiccup’s words like it was gold, and went about her kitchen dicing up whatever was left and cooking up a porridge.

Again and again, she would clean her mother’s wounds with the cure, and some herbs to facilitate healing. Stoick went back to his duties during the day, and Gothi gathered herbs. Hiccup would take the dragons out for fishing at noon. In the house, whenever Astrid fell asleep by her mother’s bed, she would wake up to the house just a bit cleaner and space neater. Hiccup would be sitting with their dragons, reading his things.

Four days after Hiccup returned with the cure, he fell sick himself, and they found the same unhealing cut on his shoulder, but bigger and blacker. He had been treating himself and clearing the poison bit by bit, the bulk of the antidote went to Eymid.

“I’m fine. Toothless helps me anyway. His saliva has properties that draw out poison. I make sure to rest a lot anyways.”

Hiccup’s unkempt and paled appearance that first night made sense. He had been shivering and sweating like Eymid did when she first fell ill. Thankfully, Hiccup wasn’t lying when he said he’d be fine. His experience with dragon poisons served him well.

While he took his recovery slowly, Eymid’s recovery sped up after she started having some actual food. Swallowing the medicine and food without throwing them back up, Eymid had rested better and healed faster.

With her consciousness returning, Hiccup and the dragons relocated to outside the house. Seeing Hiccup toy with Toothless was regular sight. Seeing Astrid clean her Stormfly was becoming a typical afternoon routine as well.

One morning, Astrid woke up to find her house completely tidied up. Her floor was scrubbed and her clothes were drying at the back, and she was lying at her mother’s side, being caressed and smiled at. Months of stress and fear was relieved in the form of tears. From behind her, Hiccup and Eymid shared a small smile, as he left the house silently, leaving their lunch cooling on the kitchen table.

 

Hiccup didn’t have to pick the lock that night. They had left the cell door unlocked, and Hiccup doubted it was by accident. He flew Toothless in the direction of the flare and met his friend.

“Hakru.”

“Hiccup! I heard what happened! Are you okay?”

“Hahah, I’m alright now. A little weak but still doing good. How is it?”

Hakru frowned. “I can’t find her…”

“What do you mean you can’t find her?”

“I’m sorry, Hiccup, it’s like she disappeared. Even the trappers are nowhere to be found. I think she hasn’t returned to the nest for some time. She has to be off investigating some things.”

Hiccup dropped onto the grass in desperation. “Nothing is going right. Nothing.”

“Hey, don’t be like that. You’re totally winning Berk over, aren’t you?”

Hiccup side-eyed his cheery friend, let gave a pained sigh.


	25. Closing In

“Huh?” Hiccup didn’t understand. He was zoning out more easily these days.

“Tell us, just tell us.” Fishlegs pleaded excitedly. Astrid, leaning against the wall of the arena just gave her friend’s request an amused snort. The hardship from the last week left nothing more than a pair of dark circles under her eyes and friendliness in her interactions with Hiccup. Astrid had always been strong, not because she wasn’t hurt, but because she dealt with pain better than most.

“Tell what, again?” Hiccup’s hand stopped moving against Toothless’ snout, causing him to let out an unsatisfied grunt, and Toothless stuck his snout further against Hiccup’s hand until he started the petting again. A cat indeed. There had to be feline genes in Toothless to explain how cat-like Toothless acted sometimes.

“All your adventures, what you learnt, how many dragons you’ve seen, everything!”

Maybe he misjudged Fishlegs. All the maturity he displayed in front of Stoick and the council dissolved and he was his overexcited young self again.

Today, Fishlegs and Astrid had approached a dragon and calmed it down themselves. They were trusting and unarmed, and Hiccup hadn’t seen half the amount of apprehension as their first day. It was a battle well fought, for him and for them. He decided a story was a reward they earned. “What do you wanna hear?”

“How does it feel like to fly on a nightfury?” Surprisingly, Astrid voiced the question first.

Hiccup was happy to talk about his pride and joy. He thumbed the sensitive spot underneath Toothless’ earplates which he always complained of being itchy.

“Well, he’s fast. Really fast, but I think me crippling him dampened his speed a lot.” Hiccup said it matter-of-factly, though his touch grew gentler, and only Toothless could tell. “The tailfin mechanism is all good and we coordinate well, but, it takes some time for him to close into his maximum speed. And it’s really cold to be flying that fast. You might think that his maximum speed is his fastest, but it’s not.”

At that, Hiccup delighted in the confused and mindfucked look Fishlegs had pasted on.

“There a system of wind I like to call the High Altitude Wind System. They are super speed winds that flow at extremely high altitudes, much higher than the highest cloud level. Few dragons can enter it and sail it safely. They would be knocked out of the sky if they tried without flying fast enough, or if they crashed into one of the wrong direction. Toothless is one of the few than can do it, and it’s easy for Toothless. A day’s journey can be shortened into a few hours if we tried. Sometimes when we are up there, Toothless even sleeps flying because the wind does most of the steering and keeping us afloat.”

Fishlegs was absolutely mesmerised.

“We usually travel at night so it’s safer with Toothless’ camouflage, and it get crazy scary up there at first. It’s completely pitched black and any light would be too far down that we can’t see. The moon is the only source of light if we’re lucky. Your dragon would be your only company. But under the High Altitude Winds, the view would be amazing. Distant lights from lands and glowing seas. And seeing Berk from up there at night, it’s one way to view your home that few people had before. First time I did, I stayed up there for hours just staring down at Berk.”

Astrid hesitantly asked, “Was that before, you know?”

Hiccup smiled. “Yeah. I’d just gotten the hang of riding Toothless actually. We ended up flying around the area exploring and only returned at nightfall. Hahah, it was fun while it lasted.”

With that Hiccup went quiet again. He knew the fact that _she_ was nowhere to be found unsettled him a lot. Hiccup just didn’t know what to do if something really went wrong, and the bad feeling that he had in his gut was constantly troubling him.

“Show us.”

Hiccup turned his attention to Astrid. She was grooming Stormfly like she hadn’t said anything, then she continued. “Show us what it’s like to fly in the dark then, shouldn’t be too different, right?”

“Okay. Tonight. Bring your thickest cloak.”

 

They flew round and round. The beauty of their natural environment was hypnotising, tempting them to stare at it forever. And among it all, Berk stood proud and high. Hiccup showed them along his flight path for their test flight, the sea stacks and the waves where the sea creatures liked to roam.

“Thank you, Hiccup.” Fishlegs said sincerely from his left.

From his right however, Astrid lowered her head. With a breath, she sought his eyes determinedly. “Thank you. A lot of that. And I’m sorry.”

Hiccup swallowed and looked forward. “You don’t owe me an apology, so you don’t have to say that. As for the thanks, you’re very welcome, Astrid. I came back with a purpose in mind, sure, but I don’t hate Berk. In fact, I kind of missed it more than I am allowed to.”

Astrid gripped her saddle tighter. “Your exile ceremony didn’t actually happen.” Fishlegs went wide-eyed, as if horrified that she would suggest what she was suggesting. “Neither did the Chief officially disown you. You can still-“

“Astrid! You can’t say that!”

“No.” Hiccup’s quick rejection put the argument to rest. “I don’t think I can, even if I am allowed to. But still, thanks for the thought. I’m fine the way things are.” _Doubtful._ “Besides, I have better things to worry about.” _That was a truth._

Hiccup let Toothless sink and fall, allowing Toothless to glide lower towards Berk. Behind him, Stormfly and Meatlug followed.

Even after his students returned home, Hiccup remained sailing and flying. Unlike them, his ass was well-accustomed to the torment of prolong intimacy with a dragon’s back, and his thermoreceptors had long lost their sensitivity against the cold.

His home was with Toothless, wherever he would be. Even if they couldn’t find his clan after all, Hiccup would roam the world with Toothless.

_You don’t think I feel the same way? If you can find a home-_

**I already have one. You of all people should know when I feel happiest, Toothless.**

Toothless paused for a while. _Even so… I’m happy if you’re happy, Hiccup. If you want to settle down, I’m all for it._

**I know. I love you too, you big baby. Even if one day, we want that, not just me, we’ll always have a place _there_ , right? That’s a home too. **

Toothless hummed agreement.

In the dense darkness, a small glimpse of fire faraway, away from any land or settlement caught Hiccup’s attention. He had already flown quite far away from Berk. The lone spark in the distance wasn’t really worth checking out, but since he was heading in that direction anyway, it wouldn’t be too much trouble after all.

Closer to the glow, Hiccup felt his heart drop.

There were two ships… a Boneguard one and one belonging to the trappers.

Hiccup and Toothless stayed silent and out of sight, then Hiccup wrapped himself up good, ready for them to go down. After he was ready, Toothless dropped and entered the dark, cold water. The instant he was in the water, Hiccup felt like he was being suffocated and the shock of having cold water enclosing around him made his throat constrict involuntarily. Underwater, he couldn’t smell, hear, taste or see. His only sense of reality was the metal grip in Toothless’ saddle, and Hiccup put his trust in Toothless to navigate them well.

After some time, between the two ships anchored together, they resurfaced. The freezing cold water was threatening to end the Haddock line. Hiccup let his eyes linger on the dragon heads hanging as decoration on one of the ships. There were wooden dragon heads, sure, but Hiccup was looking at the _real_ ones, emptied of flesh and blood then stuffed with Odin knows what.

Hiccup clenched his fist tight, but fought to not let it distract him. He and Toothless drifted close to the other ship, the Bonehead one, and listened quietly. Then, a long shadow was cast over them, and they looked up to see a long silhouette against the dim night sky.

Hiccup watched wide-eyed as the leader of the trappers walked across the plank set up, connecting the two decks. Drago Bludvist, or who he would personally call: Dargo Bloody Fist.

They had history. What was he doing here? His trappers usually roamed the North-most seas, on the outside of the Barbaric Archipelago.

 **Toothless, I’m going closer.** Hiccup peeled of his outermost layer of clothes and squeezed them, then wore them back on. Everything he had on him and Toothless were already drenched.

**_Be careful._ **

Hiccup was more worried about Toothless than himself. **You too. If anything happens, distract them, but don’t reveal yourself. No matter what, Toothless, I’m serious, don’t try to rescue me! Okay? Just look for-**

 ** _I got it. I got it._** Toothless would be frowning worriedly if he had human eyebrows. **_Go._**

Hiccup latched onto the steps on the side of the boat and climbed up quietly. On deck, several trappers and Boneguard people lined the sides, and one was almost immediately in front of Hiccup. Luckily for Hiccup, they were discussing business out in the fucking freezing open air where Hiccup could hear them. Clearly, Furlan was freezing his family jewels off as well. That just made the dripping wet Hiccup feel slightly better.

“…occupied Berk…can’t be involved…waiting…orders tomorrow…” Furlan was saying, but Hiccup had to strain to hear snippets of his words.

Bloody Fist, however, just liked to be heard, like the attention whore he was.

“No. We already have EVERYTHING ready. The WHOLE archipelago is ready and waiting! It’s the perfect time to strike, and we don’t need Berk. Once this is done, Berk won’t matter anymore. At the end of this, you will be remembered as the man that saved the archipelago from CENTURIES of raids.”

Drago walked away from Furlan closer to the edge, and Hiccup ducked lower.

“Or are you going to wait until that kid convince people to train dragons and go after the nest himself? Berk has its own influence. Once Berk yields, more will definitely follow. It is too late for backing down on this. If you won’t do it, then you leave me with no choice but to attack by myself. You know very well that I have the strength to take it on, by myself.”

Furlan frantically hurried up to Drago to appease him. “No, no! Tomorrow it is! You’re right. This is it! When the time is right, I will fire a red flare, and you can come in. We’ll take the nest, the two of us!”

Hiccup gritted his teeth. Momentarily, Bloody Fist’s eye darted sharply in his direction and Hiccup dropped his head down below the edge of the boat.

**Shit. He saw me. He fucking saw me, didn’t he?**

Hiccup couldn’t jump down from that height and risk the sound from the splash. Just then, the boat was rocked as something strong hit it form the other side, and Hiccup used the distraction from the swaying to lower himself as quickly as possible. Dropping into the water as silently as he could, he let himself sink with little air in his lungs.

Hiccup couldn’t judge when was a good time to resurface, or which direction he ought to swim in, but he doubt he could even swim. It was too freezing cold. He was already starting to lose feeling in his ears. When he finally tried to swim upwards, he struggled, and his lungs screamed. He must have pushed his limits too hard, and his body were starting to lose strength from the cold. He was quickly losing consciousness and involuntarily, he drank freezing cold salty sea water.

Vaguely, he was caught by something that dragged him through the water at high speed. But he was barely conscious.

A distance away, Toothless surfaced with Hiccup between his jaws. The poor boy was frozen, hypothermia setting in dangerously fast. Toothless heated up his belly and breathed out hot air, warming Hiccup. Between his teeth, Hiccup was waking up, just barely. He climbed onto Toothless’ back and locked the auto mechanism, then passed out.

Toothless’ eyes were scared and wide open. He should have known the water was too cold this time. He should have been there for Hiccup sooner. Eyeing the direction Berk was in, Toothless took off at high speed, hoping his exit was soundless, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. He hadn’t seen Hiccup so unresponsive for a long time. He knew what happened to humans that were cold for too long, and he desperately hope Hiccup would be okay.

Toothless burned at his core furiously, and the skin of his torso glowed dimly blue.

 

It was to starry night skies that he woke up.

They were there again. Their old place. The little cove off Raven’s Point. It was where the most important moment of his life happened.

Beside him, a vibrant campfire was torched and Toothless sat opposite to him, his intelligent deep green eyes judging Hiccup.

It was where Hiccup found someone that could hold his trust and not break it. Somehow, unwittingly, he had found a being that was kind, protective and brave, but also lonely, a perfect reflection of his own soul. It was someone that he could charm without trying, without pretending, someone he didn’t disappoint just by being himself.

Toothless sat on his haunches opposite Hiccup, on the other side of the campfire. He was completely still, but Hiccup could physically feel the fear and anger thick in the air. A soft sound of soil being pushed appeared. It was Toothless that picked up his habit of clenching his fist when in fear or anger.

Toothless jerked his head down, breaking eye contact with Hiccup and staring down at the fire instead, no doubt wanting to let out some steam of his own. The glittering that was in Toothless’ eyes made Hiccup more guilty than Hiccup ever wanted to feel towards Toothless.

Hiccup pushed himself up unsteadily, and his left feet was in pain, but he ignored it. Hiccup slowly stepped into Toothless’ line of sight and prompted him to look at him.

Toothless stayed still and his frown deepened, resolutely staring at the ground.

“Sorry, okay?” Hiccup tried to hold Toothless with his hands but Toothless was having none of that, and he sat up, back against Hiccup.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have scared you, I shouldn’t have pushed myself.” Hiccup continued to exclaim loudly and dramatically. “How can I ever be forgiven, oh my mighty god-like beast?”

Hiccup peered at Toothless’ front, hoping some amusement appeared.

Toothless warbled unintelligibly.

“Would you forgive me if I told you what I heard? It’s real juicy!”

Toothless side-eyed Hiccup, but resisted. Hiccup quietened down his tired antics and smiled at his dragon fondly but with thankfulness. Toothless only ever got angry at him for being careless, and getting hurt. _While no one else ever cared…_ Hiccup’s mind supplied. Yes, Toothless was just a dragon, not even a human. Anyone can laugh at him, pity him, that all he had caring for him was a dragon. But this dragon could feel. This dragon was loyal, loving and this dragon would die for him. Hiccup’s smile dropped as he saw the moisture at the corner or Toothless’ eyes that had yet to dry.

He could only imagine how Toothless reacted to seeing him all pale and drowning, his frozen lungs refusing to fight for him. Whatever Toothless did for him again, Hiccup was thankful. Six years of seeing the world didn’t change the fact that he tended to fixate himself to a goal and forget about his own wellbeing.

Toothless’ stubbornness only lasted several moments. While Hiccup was in thought, Toothless sighed and pushed himself into Hiccup’s chest, yearning for reassurance, which Hiccup was eager to provide.

To lighten the mood, Toothless gave Hiccup a horribly icky lick up his torso, which Hiccup groaned at. Toothless gave Hiccup an expectant look, for him to start his explanation.

“Well, long story short, Bloody Fist and Furlan are working together. I can’t believe I never suspected the trappers, I mean who else would know about the way to the nest. It seemed like I was right, Furlan have known about the Red Death all this time, and had always been keeping it quiet. Furlan wants to initiate and lead this expedition so that after this, Furlan earn fame and honour and followers, while Bloody Fist gets to rule all the dragons the Red Death has.”

 _Humans and their schemes… There’s more than this right?_ Toothless’ warble matched his own suspicions.

“I know. There’s something wrong. This doesn't make sense, and I think I know what.”

_It’s with Bloody Fist._

“Mmhm. The vikings are just distraction. They will engage the Red Death, distract it and the trappers will come in at the last moment to strike the Red Death down with their Bewilderbeast. They have no use for vikings. What they want, is to trap vikings on the island and have their way with the archipelago, and the dragons under the Red Death will be in their control. They want the whole archipelago. Drago is a conqueror, he won’t just stop with the Barbaric Archipelago either.”

_What are you going to do, Hiccup? Hakru said he couldn’t find her._

“Then I have to. It’s a bewilderbeast, Toothless. We need her strength.”

Toothless nodded.

“You have to find Hakru for me, tell him to round up whoever he can find. I…”

_And you?_

**I need an army of dragon riders.**


	26. Do you... no, what I'm trying to say is Dare You Trust Me?

The prosthetic was heavy in his hand, and triggering the mechanisms again, he could see it was efficient and intricate.

He…really had to admit. Hiccup was very skilled, to be able to come up with that.

Stoick put down the prosthetic and leaned back against the wall of the cell. Logically, it wasn’t likely, or even possible. It was the over-worked and silly part of his mind that was thinking now. He hadn’t thought much of it when Astrid ran up to him yesterday, telling him that Hiccup had taken them for a night flight and had yet to come back, but now, there was a part of his mind questioning if something drove Hiccup away?

What even made him feel that way anyway… He sounded like it was their fault Hiccup left the first time. Where did the weird insecurity of feeling attached to Hiccup come from? Stoick rubbed his face tiredly. His heart might be more peaceful now, without the unacknowledged hatred and anger towards Hiccup, but getting to know Hiccup better replaced the feelings with guilt.

The sun beat down on Stoick, a stark reminder that somehow, his trip to Hiccup’s cell to check if he’s back had dragged until morning. He had only wanted a word with Hiccup, a word that maybe if he tried really hard, he could get it past his lips. ‘Sorry.’

The week before, they had accused Hiccup of coordinating the raid and sabotaging it, without proof, without reason.

Hiccup hadn’t yelled in frustration or cried in anger. Stoick recalled that Hiccup was generous, forgiving. He had let them imprison him calmly, and after he was released, he didn’t vent his frustration, if he had any. All Stoick saw was him going back to his trainings unaffectedly and professionally. Not even his own people could respect their authority with this much ‘grace’ sometime. He thought of the unrelenting indignity their old Hiccup had and wondered if deep down, Hiccup had felt the same amount of injustice as he displayed in the past.

In his life, he had misunderstood Hiccup many times, had scolded him and wronged him many times, and only now was he started to see himself. For all the times he humiliated Hiccup in front of the whole village, for all the times he had punished Hiccup even when he was not to blame or when he had not done it on purpose…Stoick owed Hiccup more than just an apology. He had only begun to see this due to the latest incident. While his mind had flashed back to his past son more than once, Hiccup re-entering their lives with another purpose and another status brought clarity and perspectives to their memories.

Stoick and Hiccup would never go back to being father and son. Even just a small apology, Stoick found it harder to say than if he were to ask for dragon training lessons himself, when the Hiccup now didn’t spare a glance at him unless spoken to, didn’t care for his attention and didn’t call him dad. Or chief. Or anything other than his given name.

Even if Stoick could get over his own pride, he wasn’t sure if his attempt would be appreciated.

Stoick looked down at the prosthetic he lay on the ground, and the equipment on the far end of the room. An extra set of stirrups was bundled up in leather, Hiccup’s swords and bow lay against the wall. Light reflected off the golden bow like a glare, while the other two swords stayed impassive. One would never have guess one spit fire and breathed gas like a dragon, and one was heavy and stronger than any Berkian sword on Berk. Like his weapons, Hiccup had been a bigger person than what met their eyes. Bigger as the size of a nightfury.

While they were halfway across the archipelago pasting wanted posters and branding Hiccup as their traitor. A nightfury had brought out more and better in Hiccup than they had ever cared enough to even see.

Stoick rose up on a knee and supported his weight on it, trying to stand up. Without the urgency and rush from a raid, he really did feel his age. Under the warm morning sun, Stoick stood up and stretched. His back had started aching since he sat down admiring Hiccup’s weapons and equipment.

Somehow as he was reading through Hiccup’s notebook, where crazy detailed records and realistic pictures were kept and Stoick’s head spun and his breath caught from how much content of the book was never revealed to any viking before, the sun has crept up and morning had arrived. Stoick heard his back crack audibly, and his muscles burned from his stretches.

Why wasn’t Hiccup back yet?

Stoick was aware they had been harsh and uncompromising before, and he had already intended to excuse Hiccup if he was later than agreed upon. He just didn’t think Hiccup would stay away all night. He was surely coming back, Stoick thought.

Stoick was about to exit the cell and go about his morning duties, the gate to the cells creaked open. Hiccup soon turned into the prisoner cell, and they came face to face with each other. Hiccup panted and he was pale.

While Stoick was contemplative and mildly relieved Hiccup had returned, Hiccup was hurried and anxious.

What was wrong with Hiccup was not immediately obvious, but Stoick had yet to see Hiccup so unsteady on his feet except for when he was injured in the skrill fight.

 

Hiccup speed walked the way back to Berk. It wasn’t a long journey, but in his rapid mental dialogue, he registered it was too long a walk. It was certainly long enough for Astrid to discover him six years ago, long enough for Astrid to follow far enough behind without being heard.

Entering the village that was just waking up, Hiccup quickened his pace to a jog. Long jogs weren’t comfortable for his amputated limb, but he had maintained the brisk walk the whole way and he was impatient now.

The closest house was Fishlegs. He knocked the door, and Fishlegs’ mother answered.

“Good morning, Mrs Ingerman, is Fishlegs in?”

She stepped back to gesture Hiccup in and round to Fishlegs’ room. A moment later, he was already leaving the house with her son still pulling his shirt over his head.

“Wait in the arena, Fishlegs. I’m getting Astrid.”

Just as Hiccup was starting to run, Fishlegs caught hold of his forearm and asked, “Wait, Hicucp! What’s going on?”

Hiccup turned back and gripped his childhood friend’s shoulder. “Just go to the arena. I’ll come as soon as possible.”

As Hiccup came up to Astrid’s house, he slowed as he saw Astrid standing outside her doorstep. She had a bucket of fishes tucked under her arms and her front faced the rising sun, bathing in the sunshine. Stormfly snoozed by the side of her house. Astrid saw him coming from a distance.

“Morning Hiccup.” It was weird seeing Astrid so calm and contented. She had her hair unbraided, the golden locks tousled from sleep and morning chores, and she wore sleeping clothes that were loose and light. The wide collar visible under her scarf revealed her collar bone, and her sleeves were carelessly rolled up. She had tight-fitting pants made from durable animal skin, and her furred boots were a nice change from the leather boots she had been wearing since summer.

From behind her, Mrs Eymid opened the door and called out her name. “Astrid dear, would you help me…”

Just then, she noticed the boy standing next to her daughter.

Mrs Eymid looked paler than average vikings, but Hiccup was thankful to see that her face had a light dusting of colour, and the dark rings below her eyes were largely gone. The lady was skinny, and while her steps were as light as her hair, the woman had a strong and full voice, reflective of her strong personality. Not anyone could survive weeks under the Blackweed’s poison. Even with light dosage, most pass away in a week. The woman that stood in the Hofferson doorway was as beautiful as she had ever been. Hiccup regret not visiting her since she was well enough to see visitors.

“Oh my… is this Hiccup then?” The lady strode over and held out her arms, stunning Hiccup. Tentatively leaned forward and let himself be hugged, but eventually returned the hug. She was soft and warm, like his own mother had been. The absence of cold sweat and the unpleasant odour from the Blackweed’s poison was a relief.

“Hi, Mrs Hofferson. Nice to see you. I hope you are well.”

She looked at him with kind and thankful eyes. “As well as I could be, dear. You saved my life, Hiccup. Thank you. Astrid told me a lot about you, since the day you came back.”

‘Came back’ was not how he would describe his reappearance, as technically, he wasn’t actually returning as a Berkian… He wasn’t really coming back at all, and he would hate to give people the wrong impression. But returning Eymid’s happy smile, he couldn’t bring himself to make petty corrections.

“Please don’t thank me, Mrs Hofferson. It was Astrid that took such good care of you. She’s a very filial and loving daughter, Mrs Hofferson. I’m ashamed.”

If Hiccup turned around, he would have seen the blush on Astrid’s cheeks. Many had commented on that. Astrid was always dutiful in taking care of the house and her mother after her father died, that everyone could see.

Mrs Hofferson looked slightly displeased with Hiccup’s answer, and her eyes were perceptive like her mind. It was as if she could read why Hiccup said what he said in his last sentence. “You shouldn’t be, Hiccup. You shouldn’t ever have to be. Anyone should be thankful to Odin for having a son like you. I watched you grow up, Hiccup. And I believe I heard everything I need from Astrid. You’re a good man, Hiccup.”

Now it was Hiccup blushing. He looked away. While he wouldn’t ever regret what he did and does, and would never call it wrong. Everything he did had hurt his dad. He wasn’t a good son, by any right.

“Thank you, Mrs Hofferson. But you wouldn’t like what I’m about to ask of your daughter, and maybe other Berkians. Something bad that no matter how much I try to prevent, is still happening before my very eyes. I need Astrid.” There was a furrowing of her eyebrows, but Mrs Hofferson eased her frown. “If it is something Astrid believes in, I would never object to that, Hiccup. Take care of her.”

Hiccup nodded in promise, and asked Astrid to change up and meet him in the arena.

 

Hiccup wasn’t expecting to see his father in his own cell. The Chief looked sleepy, and very clearly relieved to see him.

“Hiccup! You’re back.” Back for his equipment, yes. He was getting ready for battle.

“Stoick, we have a problem.”

 

Soon, most of the village was gathered around the arena, with Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs inside the arena. Stoick couldn’t believe what was happening, Hiccup’s hurried explanation still a big mess in his mind. His heart was beating fast, nonetheless, in fear of what exactly, he couldn’t even understand. There was too much.

“Where’s Toothless, Hiccup? Why are we here?” Astrid was worried, seeing Hiccup alone, so tense and frankly, a bit angry. Her mind naturally assumed something bad happened to Toothless and Hiccup needed their help. Of course she would. But that didn’t explain why he needed the whole village around though.

Hiccup kept silent, internally wondering how to start. Around the arena, people were talking over each other chattering and muttering, speculating.

“Quiet!” Stoick’s voice boomed over the gathering. “Listen to Hiccup.”

Meeting the numerous questioning and expectant eyes, Hiccup couldn’t let his fear show. He projected his voice and spoke straightforwardly.

“Do you all know about the dragon trappers?”

He was met with a variety of confused and unimpressed looks. It seemed everyone does, but a select few – council members – reacted with shock and horror, exactly like Stoick did. Well, at least he didn’t have to convince them of the severity of the situation or how dangerous the enemy was. He just hoped he hadn’t scared them away.

Stoick spoke up over the responses. “We do not do business with them, unlike some other tribes. They are very… _efficient_ , in helping out in raids, so we’re heard… And they have an extremely bloody reputation… None of the tribes he helped came out alive. And those that do only do by submitting to him. Drago Bludvist, their leader, is a conqueror.”

“What has this got to do with us? Is he going to attack us? Do you know him?”

Hiccup didn’t know why the man thought he would be privy to the information. The last question made Stoick frown deeply, and it didn’t ease.

“No, not us. Not specifically at least.” Hiccup clenched his fist in fear, and in anger. He certainly did have a history with Drago. He owed the man at least half the scars that littered his body. But he also owed the man a thanks for the reunion he played a part in, in addition to a good payback. “I do know him. Personally.”

“How?” The growl in Stoick’s question caught Hiccup off guard, and the rest was also concerned. Was their Chief angry at Hiccup associating with the man, or was the Chief worried?

Stoick couldn’t help the anxiety at hearing Hiccup knew the man. While he didn’t say it out loud, Drago Bludvist was…a monster of a man.

Hiccup took a deep breath and began. “You don’t get well-known for being able to ‘control’ dragons without the self-proclaimed Dragon God coming after you, you know?” Hiccup sighed. “Let’s just say I get chased around by dangerous people a lot.” Stoick wasn’t sure how he felt hearing that. The stories he had heard of the trappers weren’t pleasant. While they agree with the hunting of dragons, Drago did more than just kill. Stoick heard the man torture Dragons and enslave the beasts, which sounded far more monstrous than the ‘mindless beasts’ they targeted.

“The thing is… He’s been working with Boneguard.”

Stoick’s fist was gradually turning purple from how hard he was gripping his chair that overlooked the arena. Amidst the _what?_ that resounded over the arena, Hiccup brushed his hair in an uncharacteristically troubled and frustrated way. Berk had never seen past awkward Hiccup nor present self-assured Hiccup looking so burdened.

“Everything, from the proposal during the wedding, to the actual expedition. It wasn’t just Furlan. I know you don’t believe me over another viking chief but just hear me out!” Hiccup actually shouted when the murmurings started again, as he mentioned Furlan. His patience finally ran thin.

The disbelief and scepticism he was received was grating on his nerves.

“The expedition is happening. They’ve probably been readied all this time while I am occupied on Berk. This is their trick, to use Berk to distract me while they readied in secret. I know none of you believe me, when I said that the expedition was a death wish. I know none of you believe when I said there’s a big-ass queen dragon at their nest, waiting to have you as food! I know none of you believe me when I say I’m not trying to protect the nest, but I’m trying to protect you people! Just look-“

“I believe you.” Fishlegs said from beside Hiccup. Then he turned to face the council, betting his trustworthiness on Hiccup. “I believe Hiccup.” Hiccup was wide-eyed.

“I believe you too.” Astrid took Hiccup’s left hand in her own, and she ignored Hicucp’s visible flinch.

Hiccup didn’t dare to let his own line of sight stray from every single Berkian he had in his eyes, not especially the council members, Gothi, and Stoick.

“I _swear_. It’s Drago. He’s been behind everything. The attack is his idea. He wants to lure all vikings onto the island and have you fight the Red Death, and he will kill it with dragons from behind.”

He waited for the information to sink into viking brain, and supplied the inference that he doubted Berkians could establish on their own.

“Then, he would have the whole archipelago on _one_ dragon-infested island, the Red Death’s dragons with no Red Death controlling them, and his army of dragons. The whole archipelago of vikings and dragons would be on his fingertips.”

“Are you kidding me? So what? He traps dragons, not control them!”

“Then I bet you have never heard of bewilderbeasts, the alphas of dragons.” Hiccup crossed his arms. “I’ve been to the Red Death’s nest over a handful of times, and another time just over two weeks ago.” The information surprised the Berkians.

“I had to keep an eye on the queen. As I was saying, the Red Death has no control over Toothless anymore.” Hiccup left out the part that the Red Death tried to force them to submit. “However, what the Red Death could not do, a bewilderbeast can. Taking over control of the Red Death’s dragons will be no trouble. When that happens, Drago rules Barbaric.”

Hiccup had all of Berk attentive, just where he wanted them. A voice weakly questioned. “You can’t mean that Drago Bludvist control this powerful dragon, even if it does exist.”

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

“Then what can we do? You said it can control all dragons, even your Toothless. What can we even do to it?”

“I’m asking you to trust me… I need Berk to be the one to stop the expedition. But if that fails… stall and protect. Drago will only intervene when the Red Death is distracted with the vikings so he could dealt the killing blow. He doesn’t care that people die, and he doesn’t care if dragons do. He’s there to reap the rewards… What I am asking you to do, is to defend vikings and protect people, for as long as possible. Can you do it?”

Hiccup’s heart dropped when people backed away from the chains enclosing the arena. Suddenly the heroic tribe of dragon beaters he had admired to be part of since birth shrank before his very eyes.

“You would risk everything for a shot at killing the Red Death before, what’s different?”

“What is your plan, Hiccup?” Stoick stood from his seat and walked forward. People’s heads rose to their Chief’s. “What matter does it make for us to do what you say?”

Hiccup in a sudden action, grabbed his Inferno and opened it, blazing fire burnt hot from Astrid and Fishlegs’ sides.

“I will stop Drago. Trust me. There is a chance to take down the bewilderbeast, a chance that I can give you. But it won’t happen unless you help me.” Hiccup lifted his sword horizontally, and placed the burning blade on his left hand, his right hand supporting the handle. The fire nicked his hand, but had not start burning due to the nature of nightmare oil. It will soon enough. Hiccup knelt down on both knees, spread shoulder-width apart. “Please.”

Stoick went wordless.

Hiccup lowered his head, and not knowing what kind of expression lay on the Berkians’ faces killed him. His endured the pained moan as the fire finally started to burn his hand, and his left hand started visibly trembling. He clenched his teeth and his eyes watered.

“Hiccup…” Fishlegs was really worried and decided he couldn’t watch on anymore. As did their exiled heir, he kneeled to his people.

Astrid gasped at the visible pain on Hiccup’s face, and kneeled as well. She only kneeled to her father and her mother, but never to anyone else including Stoick. This would be a first.

“Please. What do I have to do for you to listen?” Hiccup gritted through his teeth, a tear finally slid down.

“Yes.” A single voice from the crowd shocked Hiccup to look up.

He stared in shock, momentarily forgetting about the pain in his hand. “Gothi…”

Gothi, Berk’s elder and healer never spoke since the death of her husband. She repeated: “Yes, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. You have endured very much for the sake of Berk, for vikings. So, yes, my dear.”

It was as if her words woke up Berk. A chorus of hands and ‘Yess!’s erupted over the arena. Seeing the consensus of his people, Stoick finally let himself shout. “Enough, Hiccup! We’ll do as you say.”

Hiccup immediately dropped Inferno and clutched his bleeding hand to his chest. Not a single tear escaped since. Hiccup was thankful. While the audience were shaken by Hiccup’s conviction, not daring to trust Hiccup and not daring to be the lone wolf that speak up, Gothi’s words was something they could put faith into, who they could trust.

Just then, a familiar ringing happened.

Toothless swooped vertically down from the sky when he sensed that Hiccup was in great distress. Just before he closed in on Berk, he could smell burnt flesh. Hiccup’s flesh. The smell was a stab at his heart. He knew that smell all too well and it brought a scene into his mind, the scene where he had to bite Hiccup’s leg off because of the poison, and be the one to fire at it to cauterise the wound.

Berkians watched the black speck in the sky enlarge into a form that shot a familiar purple tinted bolt at them. Not them, but the arena’s chains. This was the same. Exact. Scene.

At that moment though, Toothless was anything but cuddly. It branded intimidation signals all over its body, it scaled were midnight black and non-glossy, its teeth bared and all of the plates running along its head and body were standing. To Toothless, he only saw his rider, choking and in pain. He quickly advanced towards Hiccup, and Hiccup thanked Odin that Toothless had chosen then to return.

In front of their very eyes, Hiccup places his left hand in Toothless’ mouth and instantly relaxed with a silent gasp. Toothless closed his mouth around Hiccup, his flesh moving underneath his jaws as if he was swallowing and moving his tongue about.

Hiccup soothed Toothless and calmed him, moving his right hand up and down Toothless’ body.

It only a while, but it was a long time to Hiccup. Toothless finally opened his mouth. His previously docile appearance returned, but now the image of his actually angered was imprinted in Berkian minds. Hiccup retracted his hand from Toothless’ mouth slowly, slimy with saliva and other slick. His hand was still blood red in his palm, but the back was still skin colour. It looked disgusting, though not bloody and sticky like burnt flesh typically looked. His skin just looked raw and thin, as if enough to see the frail veins and muscles beneath.

Hiccup let out a loose breath, unthinkingly giving a toothy grin to Toothless.

“You’re back, Toothless.”

_Idiot! IDIOT!_ Toothless raged.

Hiccup laughed heartily. The war, it would end soon.


	27. Chapter 27

The sight was certainly shocking and amusing, but Hiccup didn’t have time to laugh.

Toothless had informed Hakru and the other riders to go on ahead of them, to stall the viking ships and protect them on the island if the Red Death started attacking. The rest of Berk was readying and setting off soon. Berk was the closest to the nest. Surely they would catch up on the two day journey, since they were only half a day late.

Hiccup looked at the Berkians in front of him. They had _volunteered_ to learn to ride dragons. Hiccup could barely contain himself. But there was one problem: Stoick and Gobber were amongst them. Of the over thirty dragons Toothless brought back, none had the strength to carry either of them and still fly or fire. They watched from the side of the arena in attention.

Hiccup focused on bonding the dragons with the viking they shared an affinity to. He calmed the dragons and the people down, then let them roam the arena freely. Taking extra care, he identified those that caught each other’s attention, and instead of breaking it, they drew nearer and nearer, even without him making them. For two warring species to move towards each other voluntarily out of curiosity and friendliness, and even interest, Hiccup was sure he didn’t have to intervene. Afterall, dragons could look into the soul of the person they were going to bond with. They were a very discerning judge of character like that. They wouldn’t give a damn about someone that was wrong for them.

 **If you found someone you want to befriend, just open up your palm, and let the dragon approach you.** Hiccup said. It wasn’t a one size fits all method, but usually, instincts took over the moment pairs started gravitating towards each other. Hiccup still remembered how natural it was watching Toothless, harassing Toothless and playing with Toothless. It wasn’t the actual bonding, per se, but they definitely led up to it.

By the end of the day, Hiccup had over twenty bonded riders that were visibly growing closer.

 

The ships would set off in the night while the riders would do so in the morning. Stoick stood beside him, then overlooking the busy dock against the sunset. Hiccup reached into his suit, and pulled out a notebook. His dragon snored in the background.

“I will meet you there.”

“Why? Are you not coming?” Stoick received the object.

“I have to find someone, someone that can take the bewilderbeast.”

Stoick opened the notebook and thumbed through the pages.

“These are all my notes and records of dragons, places and random scribbles. The last page will be useful to you. It’s a record of everything I could observe from the Red Death so far, and also the environment of its nest. If you can’t understand, Fishlegs will know what to do about it.”

The notes were really, really specific. What dragon it was, what class, what it ate, what it did for fun, how it slept, what made it tick, what it sounded like. Everything was there. Hiccup recorded them as if they were people, as if they were their own distinct species and not just under a broad term – dragons. Hiccup recorded them as if every single dragon had its own personality and habits.

As he was getting fascinated by the detail in the book, a flap dropped out from between pages, and it expanded until it was as long as Stoick’s knee. He carefully peeled open the flap and unfolded it… it was a map… It stretched beyond the archipelago. Beyond what they knew was called Rome.

Stoick laid the map on the floor and stared in wonder.

“This is really… unbelievable… We are…here? And there’s the nest.” Stoick pointed.

Hiccup had everything labelled. The scale of his map is not exactly the same as the ones Berk used. Closer to the borders of the parchment, each unit distance is represented over a wider length of paper. As the globe was not flat, flattening the surface of it over a piece of paper meant that closer to the fattest part of the earth, it has to be stretched several times. Very close to the center of the map was the Barbaric Archipelago, and above them was the snow and ice lands that vikings rarely ventured. It was also where the dragon trappers based their activities in.

However, there was one speck of land that Hiccup had put in painstaking detail and effort to recreate. It was visibly different from the rest of the map. Hiccup had another small paper attached from the end of the paper that had a line linking to it. ‘Refer to page 193.’ It said. And a foreign stroke was added to that as description. It wrote… ‘non’? Or was it ‘mam’?

On the other side of the paper, around the icy lands at the center, there were arrows, drawn very carefully, trailing up and down the paper, the furthest ending close to the edge of the paper.

When he looked closer in the dim lighting, Stoick realised what it was.

Hiccup had tried to track down the nightfuries. Why did he need to do that? Wasn’t the nest full…

Things started to come together finally… The nest laid a queen which enslaves dragons. Nightfury attacks only came around twenty years ago, and it had completely stopped six years ago before Hiccup left. So Toothless was the only nightfury under the queen, and she had stolen him from his family.

This book would take him weeks to finally read through. Stoick spun back to confirm his theory, but Hiccup had already disappeared. In the shadows, there weren’t a pair of yellowish green eyes that observed him. Hiccup and Toothless were both gone.

 

The next day, early morning, Berk did their final farewell to those that rode on dragons. Stoick had already gone with those sailing, and instead of Snotlout, Astrid was left in charge. Hakru, Hiccup’s friend appeared in the early morning to lead them to the nest.

They took flight, from the hill that overlooked the dock and the seas, the hill that they used to play on.

Astrid and Fishlegs adjusted quickly to the temperatures, but the rest started shivering slightly when the adrenaline of flying wore off.

Hakru, to their surprise, started small conversations, but mainly on how they would go about fighting the Red Death. Stoick had a briefing with them last night but Hakru offered more manoeuvring insights rather than where to strike or where to avoid. He even demonstrated how to do narrow turns in front of the group of dragon riders. The live lesson was something Hiccup hadn’t done with the rest last night, as he only managed to get everyone to bond and fly without falling off.

Hakru double checked their ropes in the air, scaring them to death with him moving around in the air. Like Hiccup, the skies was his territory.

 

Chief Furlan eyed the gigantic mountain victoriously… This was it…

The ships were anchored on to a beach-like area, and the ground was a mixture of a variety of black and grey stones, on grainy soil that were equally dull in colour. Just from their place at the mouth of the island, they could hear dragon squawking. It really was the dragons’ nest!

“WE FOUND IT!!!” They celebrated, completely oblivious to the awakening Red Death, and Drago’s man, spying from the mist that surrounded the island. A man peeked into his scope. Vikings were right where he wanted them to be.

“Let’s break it open!”

Together, they launched rocks onto the face of the mountain, and with every crack, more dragons were heard.

The leaders of each tribe were standing together, at the front of the army, already looking victorious. A man ran up to them and reported: “The Hooligans are here.”

Furlan was confused, but not displeased. “Splendid! They handle dragons very well, after all. Let them join us!” One more tribe stepping into his trap, why would he say no?

Instead of being enthusiastic about their endeavour, Stoick had a scrunched up face when he marched up to the gathering of leaders.

“Stoick.” Big-Boobied Bertha greeted plainly. The two tribes were always competitive, and frankly had a very delicate truce on most matters. “Bertha.”

Alvin stood a distance away, and Stoick ignored him.

Mogadon clasped Stoick’s arm tightly, but Stoick didn’t even flinch. “Hello, Stoick. What a great surprise to see you.” His voice was tainted with venom.

Instead to reacting to Mogadon, Stoick looked to Furlan and said without even a word of greeting, “Call this off. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

Furlan scoffed. Of course he did. Only the rest didn’t. “Stoick! Now you’re talking like the dragon sympathisers. Have you forgotten what dragons have done to us! This is our chance to take back what they owe us. It’s three hundred years’ worth of lives!”

Stoick broke free of Mogadon’s hold and closed in on Furlan. “You and I both know that’s not what you have in mind. You’re being played Furlan. Nobody ever associated with _him_ and gets out unharmed. He’s using you!”

Furlan hid his surprise with anger, slapping Stoick away. “Don’t be a fool! Stoick! Dragons do not deserve mercy! FIRE!!!”

The boulders were thrown, and the cave wall cracked, revealing a dark black hole.

For a long time, no movement or noise was heard. Then, as if an approaching storm, soft noises from the mountain spiked in volume until the mixture of roars and barks became deafening. A strong vortex of dragons flew out thickly and circled in the dark skies. It was a sight to fear. Above them, if all dragons spit fire and spiralled downwards on them, they were done for. A rain of fire it would be. But dragons’ didn’t have the coordination between species to do that yet. The Red Death wasn’t clever enough either. What it did know was its rule was being threatened and it was furious.

It slowly stretched its limbs and wings and approached the bright crack in its nest, where thick clouds of Viking scent and metallic fumes weaved through. It drove through the mountain opening without collapsing the mountain but widening the crack. The Red Death wasn’t red. But it was truly the size Hiccup had informed them. Ginormous. It shook the ground with every step it took, and as it registered the whole shore of tributes, it started to scurry forward, rattling the ground. It loudly cried.

People were scurrying back to the ships like ants on a run. The chiefs, in panic, ordered their men to launch the flaming boulders. Over thirty of such flaming projectiles flew towards the Red Death, raining down on it, but with absolutely no damage. The droplets of fire rebounded off lifelessly, but it did turn the beast’s attention on the boulder launches.

In rage, the Red Death barrelled through the launchers, catching up with the scurrying vikings. With one breath of fire, their ships were all torched.

Stoick looked on in failure. He hadn’t managed to catch up before the nest, and he hadn’t managed to convince the expedition. Vikings were all trapped there.

In the following rush and panic, the Red Death had advanced on them and destroyed most of their stone launchers and spike guards. Its eyes narrowed on the vikings closest to it, as if picking its meal. Furlan was nowhere to be seen.

“Spitelout! Get everyone out of here!”

Stoick pushed himself through the horde of people to get to the Red Death’s feet, and shouted repeatedly. As the Red Death was lowering itself to look at him, a spike guard was thrown in its face, and Gobber sported a smug grin.

If they were to die today, they were going to die with their heads held high! Stoick and Gobber, friends to the bitter end.

Together, they distracted the Red Death enough for the vikings to be led to the sides of the island by Berkians. The notebook given to Stoick had outlined relatively safer spaces to use for stand-by, and Stoick relayed the information to all of Berk well so they could lead people there if needed. To the rest of the tribes, Berk looked as if they already knew what would happen.

Their stunt only lasted briefly. The Red Death breathed fire in their direction, much rather killing them than taking the effort to eat them alive. As Stoick and Gobber thought the wave of fire would be their end, the Red Death’s fire stopped burning and quickly dissipated.

Over the Red Death’s head, close to thirty dragons joined the fight, with Astrid at the front. Stoick watched them fly over, a loose breath escaped him.

Their youngsters dove into battle quickly and bravely, Fishlegs doing the analytics and Astrid, the strategizing. Snotlout and the twins led the others in execution, as they sported a different energy of fearlessness and adrenaline that people wanted to follow. If they were born in one body, the successor of Stoick’s position would be no cause for worry anymore.

As he stood rooted watching the riders appear with no sight of Hiccup, still, Stoick was disappointed. He was suddenly strongly shoved to the side. He turned back in shock, seeing no one, from his side, Gobber shouted for him to follow, “Move it, Stoick!” They were still not in the clear.

When Stoick reached their people, the first question from Spitelout was, “Where’s Hiccup?”

Stoick couldn’t answer. “Where’s everyone else?”

The Berkians lined the boundary that was closest to the Red Death, and the Boneguards were still dispersed in the crowd. What matter did it make? They were all trapped there with the Red Death unless they were killed or the Red Death was killed.

There was loud shouting, and the people of Berk watched in horror as Fishlegs was dropped to the ground with his Meatlug, then they flipped with him on the bottom. A second shock came when Snotlout was forced to jump off the Red Death’s head, while it was at its full height.

The last shock came when Astrid and her dragon was almost swallowed. At the last minute, an exotic dragon swooped down to save her, while many others rammed into the Red Death’s side hard, making it lose its balance.

They weren’t from Berk.

These weren’t riders that were with Berk.

The dragon that picked Astrid up set her down at the side, and the rider shouted. “We’re Hiccup’s friends, let us handle this for now. You did good, holding it off. What you can do now, is for you and your friend to keep the waiting dragons from the fight, can you do that?”

They were so busy with the Red Death that they had not realised that the circling dragons were that much lower and closer to the fight. Some of them were breaking away and attacking vikings.

Astrid whistled for Stormfly, and they rode off again, gathering the other riders and passing the message. One look was enough to tell that the new arrivals were experienced riders. They were faster, more agile and certainly better coordinated. Astrid and the others flew low to the people they were protecting, fighting off some of the stray dragons targeting them.

One glance below had Astrid huffing. The vikings were staring up at them, previously in fear or horror, but now in mixed amounts of amazement. They weren’t so supportive before, when Stoick tried to convince them or when Hiccup offered to teach them dragon riding. Everyone was so vehemently against the deal Hiccup came up with. Then Astrid realised they were guilty of it too. She was the same. Hating Hiccup before, then after beating her, teaching her dragon riding and saving her mother, she turned friendlier to Hiccup…was she really as shallow? Only giving Hiccup a chance only after he benefitted her? How Berk treated Hiccup before he left was worse.

Even as she was caught up in her thoughts, she spotted him. Furlan and his followers were hiding in the crowd, eyeing her with hate. Recalling what Hiccup revealed about their plans –betraying their clan and culture and dragging the viking honor through the mud – Astrid gripped her axe tightly to keep herself from leaping off Stormfly and punishing them then and there.

One moment, she was looking down on Furlan, literally. The next, she was suddenly plummeting down into the sandy shore.

It wasn’t a fall as nasty as Stormfly used her body to protect Astrid just before they hit the ground. The fall still made Astrid disoriented, and the cold breeze blowing on the shores suddenly became apparent to her, without the warmth from Stormfly. Stormfly’s presence over her diminished sharply.

“Astrid, how are you?” Chief Stoick questioned concernedly. Astrid grunted, but their attention was drawn forward.

From the mist, another three ships emerged, and they were shrouded in darkness. As they came into view in the dim lighting, Astrid felt her Chief’s flinch. The people behind them seemed to retreat further.

Stoick uttered, “Drago Bludvist…”

A man stepped down from his ship and walked onto the island. The man wore a set of armour that was a mix of Hiccup’s style and normal viking armour. He had big and curved shoulder guards, and metal encasing his left arm. The rest of his body was protected under metal and leather, with minimal fur lining his boots. In his right hand, he had a heavy metal spear with a split head. The whole assembly was predominantly black in colour, and steel-grey at some parts.

In front of him, the Red Death was visibly in pain, bellowing pitifully to the darkened skies. The dragons gliding over them were agitated, and they started head-butting each other. At her legs, Astrid’s Stormfly was tumbling and tossing too.

Astrid’s heart was in her throat. She treaded towards her dragon, then a menacing voice just three metres to her diagonal stopped her in her tracks. “I wouldn’t do that.”

From a distance away, Fishlegs and the others were rooted too, wanting to return to their people but too worried to leave their dragons behind. The man that spoke to her laughed. Then immediately, Stormfly struggled up, and lifted her head alertly.

Relief welled up in Astrid, making her reach towards the dragon thankfully… until she noticed the needle thin slits that were Stormfly’s pupils devoid of affection or consciousness.

Drago must have given some signal. Stormfly charged towards them and swung its tail to shot its spines at Astrid. Astrid couldn’t react to Stormfly in time from her close distance, but Stoick pulled her out of the way and used his sword to deflect the flying spines.

Astrid stumbled back behind Stoick.

“Hello, Stoick.”

Astrid’s dragon wasn’t the only one to lose its mind, so did the rest. The teens returned to Stoick’s side, next to Astrid. The other riders though, remained by their dragons.

“Drago Blaa- what now?” Fishlegs couldn’t be more obvious.

“Drago Bludvist, son.” The man neared them even more, and Stoick raised his sword at him. Drago just laughed. “Drago, Bludvist.”

“He, was the man that eliminated seventeen chieftains in one night two decades ago. I was the only survivor.” Stoick gravely reminded, earning shocked looks from the number of chiefs along the border of their little fighting ground.

Drago was delighted. “Hah hahh! Yes, yes I am. I’m glad you remember me, Stoick the Vast.”

Behind him, the Red Death shouted out weakly, and finally seemed to regain a bit of control. She threw fire towards Stoick and Drago, though it was short. Drago uncaringly lifted his cape and covered himself. Strangely, the fire melted off him like water. It was exactly like Hiccup’s cloak.

After the Red Death slammed its tail over one of the trappers’ ship, Drago was annoyed, like a cat that got rubbed the wrong way.

He stomped over closer to the water where his men were, and a dragon submitted itself obediently. He stepped onto the dragon before it even settled down on the ground, and with a command, the dragon flew, right up to the Red Death.

Drago opened up his arms, shouting menacingly to the rebelling Red Death. “YarrrghghhhhhhH!!!!!!”

As if heeding the call, the sea just outside the shore bubbled. Then, like Njörður had awakened, the sea rose in level to reveal figure, one that rose higher than the Red Beast’s mountain itself. Hiccup’s words had come true, and their chance to delay the battle for Hiccup was lost.

_The bewilderbeast…_

Spitelout echoed the words of their tribesmen, staring at the stand-off, his whole face paled. “He’s not coming…” Spitelout muttered in betrayal, his hope dwindling along with fear, and replaced with despondence.

The dragon was twice in height from the Red Death. The Red Death was with wide nostrils and large mouth and jaws, grey-blue skin but the bewilderbeast, it was dirty snow in colour, with  spikes running over its body, especially its head and neck. The ends were bloodied red, and two tusks almost as thick as its tail, which tapers down into its two tailfins.

As the bewilderbeast came into view, it was like magic. It commanded all the attention of the dragons circling them, and they landed on the mountain spikes facing the beast, all at attention.

Drago laughed victoriously. Furlan broke free from the mass, and came upon the scene with great shock. “Wha, what is this?”

From his place in the sky, Drago didn’t even look down. “What is this? This is the alpha! The KING of dragons!”

He grinned manically, and swung his spear round and round until it came to a stop, straight at the Red Death.

Just like that, the vikings were cast aside. Trapped on the island, their dragons taken from them, they could do nothing but watch the bewilderbeast attack the Red Death, subdue it, and kill it.

The bewilderbeast roared, as did the Red Death.

They charged at each other and struggled, and the bewilderbeast threw the Red Death sideways until it face-planted into the sea. ‘A wet dragonhead can’t light its fire.’ The fact echoed in vikings’ minds.

In the sea, the bewilderbeast breathed out strongly, and vikings watched agape as the water from the sea and the water dripping from the Red Death’s body froze, turning into white crystals. The shock from the cold made the Red Death disoriented.

The bewilderbeast, with its right tusk, stabbed cleanly straight into the throat of the Red Death, smearing blood over its white tusks. The bewilderbeast pulled its tusk out, and the Red Death fell uselessly on its side, half of its body landed on its island.

It wasn’t even a fight. The bewilderbeast was too overpowering, both in size and in dominance. Around them, the dragons were scattered and confused as the Red Death competed and lost to the bewilderbeast in fight. Both their control on the dragons slipped and diverted.

By then, the distraction with the bewilderbeast allowed some dragons that were far away to fly off, but it wasn’t long, before the victorious bewilderbeast returned its attention to the island.

Drago was delivered up to the head of the bewilderbeast, and he stepped foot on the head, exerting ownership over the beast. The bewilderbeast trekked up the island, right up to the center.

It was silent, when the bewilderbeast’s eyes narrowed until only a fine line was left. Fishlegs could see it – the subtle vibrating of the bewilderbeast’s spikes on its head. The dragons reacted together. Their eyes became slits and their jaws loosened.

It was true, they were seeing it. Mind control in dragons.

“Listen to me!” Drago started. The trills of dragons and mutters of people dissolved into a void of silence.

“ _I_ know what it is, to live in fear! To see my village burnt, my family taken. As a boy, left with nothing, I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons, and liberate the people of this world! Today, the queen of dragons that has been raiding you for CENTURIES falls under _my_ army. If you surrender to me, this will be your liberation!”

“NO!”

Drago’s eyes narrowed onto the stony ground. The rest of the tribes aghast. In front of them, an assembly of dragon riders lined themselves, blocking the bewilderbeast from the vikings. Their dragons were a distance away, stalking up to them viciously, hissing and cracking. But their command wasn’t directed to their dragons, it was directed to Drago. Even if he could control their dragons, he could not control them.

“Stop this!”

Drago laughed from his place on the bewilderbeast, mocking the lone group of vulnerable riders. “Stop who? ME?”

He roared, and the bewilderbeast echoed him, and together, the dragons fired at their bonded riders together. Stoick let out a soundless scream at the fire, his worry for Hiccup transferred over to concern for the brave people that were protecting them. The resultant heat and force pushed vikings back a yard, and the flames burned the ground.

When explosion quietened, it was like peace enveloped the world, a temporary respite. On the stony beach, their savior lay dead to the world. The dragons closed in on their downed riders, unfeeling.

A strong feeling in his chest forced him forward, “Stop.”

“Stoick…” Gobber hollowly uttered, but he steeled himself, and stepped up beside Stoick. Beside them, all the riders from Berk came forward as well, and in a moment, there was an uproar from Berk, many shouting _stop_.

Everyone could see where things were going. The dragons would deal the killing blow on their fainted riders. Drago raised his spear from his place over the bewilderbeast, pointing the sharp end undoubtedly straight at Stoick, and the bewilderbeast rumbled and inhaled.

A loud roar stopped the dragons in their tracks. It was a roar that somehow, the Berkians already recognised.

A whistling came from the sky, accompanied by a powerful plasma blast to the front of the bewilderbeast. Drago ran back and hid on the back of the bewilderbeast head spikes, and the blast hit precisely where he had been. Berkians had their heads turned up, relief and surprise erupted over their faces at seeing the familiar black speck decking through the sky, but Stoick suddenly stopped and frowned. “Hiccup?”

The saddle on the back of Toothless was empty.

Toothless bent his head back and eyed the scene, smug.

Hiccup was unseen, and when Drago finally saw him, recognition lit up in Drago’s eyes. “You!”

Hiccup glided past Drago, a full canister of zippleback gas emitting from his hand and with a flick of his thumb, one spark ignited the explosive gas, throwing Drago from the bewilderbeast’s head.

The two consecutive strikes on its head temporarily stopped the bewilderbeast’s ultrasonic hypnotism waves. The attacking dragons were given a chance to regain control over their own minds. To the dragons under the Red Death, such was difficult having been deprived of sense for decades. To the bonded dragons however, their bond was the greatest force grounding them.

Drago landed heavily right in front of Stoick, and Stoick branded his sword, plunging it right at Drago’s neck. Drago was faster. He rolled back and pushed himself up, and his left armoured hand blocked Stoick’s next strike while his right hand delivered a hard punch to Stoick.

He saw his spear a small distance back, and reached for it, but a plasma bolt knocked him off his feet again. When he refocused on the scene, the Dragon Conqueror stood beside his nightfury.

Hiccup had his arrow notched on his bow, aimed straight at Drago.

“Give up. Nobody’s following you anywhere.” Hiccup’s featured twisted into anger. “Liberation. Freedom. You’re a monster. You don’t care about people, you want to control people! And you’re not getting it!”

Behind Hiccup, the bewilderbeast rose up, barely harmed and very enraged. Toothless turned his back against Hiccup and his front facing the bewilderbeast. “Are you sure?” Drago sneered.

An axe flew at Hiccup, and he released his first arrow to knock the axe away. At the edge of the crowds, Furlan had his hand out after throwing the axe. In that instant when Hiccup was distracted, Drago shouted to the bewilderbeast, “TAKE CONTROL OF HIM!”

Drago threw his cape to block Hiccup’s sight, and threw himself over Hiccup, pushing Hiccup’s head into the ground, the bow and arrow lodged underneath their bodies. Drago kicked Hiccup to the back, away from the nightfury and his bow and arrow. Seizing the moment, Drago retrieved up his heavy spear from behind him, lodged in the ground, while Hiccup branded a dark black sword, one that gleamed like the scales of his nightfury.

“Yes… You are COMPLETELY right, Dragon Conqueror. But I’m getting just exactly that. Let me show you!”

Drago held one end of his staff over his head, and the bewilderbeast stood up higher to its full height, towering over them all.

“No dragon can resist the Alpha's command. So, he who controls the Alpha controls them all!”

Hiccup could already see what was about to happen.

This wasn’t the first time he had to face off Drago. Many times in the past, they had fought, with or without the bewilderbeast. Hiccup always felt the fear and worry emanated from Toothless in those times, because the last thing Toothless ever wanted, was to be controlled again. Toothless was fearful that his time with Hiccup would be taken away, and he would be enslaved. The Red Death, they could overcome with their bond, but standing before a bewilderbeast, Toothless was overtaken with pain every time he forced himself to struggle and to resist.

By Hiccup’s side was the only place he’d ever want to be. Hiccup swore to himself that he would never leave Toothless alone and vulnerable against the bewilderbeast.

 **No. NO! Toothless!** Hiccup thrashed and clashed his Spartha again and again against Drago’s spear, but Drago stood his ground and wouldn’t let him close. “TOOTHLESS!”

Behind them, dragons and trappers surrounded the vikings.

The bewilderbeast had stopped roaring, and its eyes were fixed on the small form on the ground. Toothless was in pain, the pain that only his bond with Hiccup could numb. Toothless moaned as the sharp ringing invaded his ear and his mind, and all he could see behind his eyelids were the narrowing pupils of the bewilderbeast.

It hurt. It hurt so badly. The call of the great alpha resonated within his mind, and his bond with Hiccup grew thinner… and thinner.

Toothless gasped and keened.

Where was Hiccup? Where was him? Where was… the boy… a viking… a youngling… Toothless felt like his mind was doused in freezing water and number, everything real in his heart was fading away fast until only the alpha remained.

“Toothless…” Hiccup stared past Drago’s shoulder. His nightfury had stopped struggling… and lay prone on the ground. “Toothless?”

Drago pushed Hiccup back.

“He’s not _Toothless_ anymore. He belongs to the alpha. After four long years, your nightfury, is mine.” Drago struck his spear in Hiccup’s face, stopping just on the skin of his right cheek, and one shallow cut opened up. The spear in his face did nothing to sway his watch of Toothless.

The bewilderbeast called, and Toothless stood up on its legs, and crawled back towards Hiccup. Drago backed away to watch the show.

Hiccup stood up from the ground, but remained in half-crouch at Toothless’ eye level. Toothless advanced, and snapped his jaws, giving guttural groans. “Toothless, you okay, bud? What’s going on? Toothless?”

Astrid cried out to their names, as did the others, but they were unheard. Stoick watched in horror. He had his son back… He finally had his son back, and he was losing him all over again.

**I did this.**

 

“Toothless… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Hiccup’s eyes gleamed with unshed tears, and he finally lowered his hands, and dropped his sword. Hiccup broke his promise. He let Toothless’ nightmare become a reality, and couldn’t do anything to stop it. Toothless’ gut glowed blue, and Toothless lowered his head in preparation for the fire.

It would be easy to end Hiccup. Even with his armour and weapons, a well-aimed plasma blast would kill Hiccup. Especially with the man at teeth-point.

Hiccup watched reality play out in front of him, as everything he worked for was washed away, but he found he didn’t really care anymore. With the viking war, with Drago… Compared to Toothless’ place on Hiccup’s soul, they were infinitesimally small.

Hiccup couldn’t shut his eyes or turn away from this. He wanted to see Toothless, to be able to look at his dragon. Hiccup gritted his teeth. Call it one last act of stubbornness. He would die then and there, by his dragon’s side.

Hiccup raised his right hand, the first hand he had ever touched Toothless with. The same hand he bonded Toothless with. He only wished he could meet his bond mate’s eyes one last time.

 **It’s not your fault, bud.** Hiccup took a step towards the crouched dragon. **They made you do it. You’d never hurt anyone,** Hiccup smiled. **You’d never hurt me.**

Hiccup puts his hand on Toothless's snout, feeling the warmth, the hard and smooth scales that he groomed. Those eyes that he loved were closed.

For a moment, Hiccup thought there was movement beneath the eyelids. But Toothless’ gut glowed brighter.

**You are my best friend, bud.**

In the silence of their minds, away from Drago, away from the bewilderbeast, away from the vikings, Hiccup’s voice echoed.

Memories of their first tentative encounter, full of fear and hostility. Their first shared smiles. To their first play. Their first sunset. Their first touch. Their bond.

The bewilderbeast’s throat started to rumble softly, and his pupils shook. “What?” Drago turned between the bewilderbeast, and the nightfury in shock.

Hiccup was unaware. His pained expression and gentle smile were still present, directed towards the nightfury under his palm. He waited, for Toothless to eventually raise his head, and for the purple-blue blast that he’d seen fired so many times before, only this time, it would be at him.

**Toothless… My best friend.**

Everything exploded at once. The nightfury let out a tortured howl, one that was loud enough to shock all the dragons and vikings present on the island. He frustratedly and uncontrollably shook its head, even rubbing it’s earplates against the ground. Toothless continued to moan and while in extreme pain, the plates on its head and its body spasmed. “How are you doing that?!” Drago all but yelled. Hiccup was scared to see Toothless like that. The blue glow started to dim in Toothless, but not completely out.

Hiccup put both hands on Toothless and tried to sooth him the best he could, coaxing the struggling dragon. Toothless tried to open his eyes, to see Hiccup. _He wanted to see Hiccup!_

“I said TAKE HIM!” Drago yelled to the bewilderbeast, and he waved his staff again. The bewilderbeast concentrated harder, forcing Toothless down.

 ** _HICCUP!_** He was almost there! He could feel Hiccup, could feel their bond connecting them. He could _feel_ again! Toothless tried again and again to shake off the Alpha's control. Suddenly, he came to with clarity.

 **My best friend.** Hiccup’s voice was heard in his mind, through their bond, loud and clear!

Hiccup was stunned, and he grinned almost maniacally despite the tear tracks on his face. They did it. They overcome the alpha’s call!

“Toothless!” He cried to the nightfury. The nightfury squirmed in his arms and looked up at Hiccup. Toothless’ eyes were completely clear, his wide, black and trusting eyes were directed back at Hiccup again.

Then he jumped from Hiccup’s arms and gave a loud roar to the alpha, the blue glow from his belly relighting. A single plasma blast was shot from Toothless’ mouth, straight between the eyes of the alpha.

“NO. This is NOT POSSIBLE!” Drago spun his spear again.

Without the manipulated dragons holding them back, vikings charged at the trappers on the scene, and Stoick rushed up to Drago with his battle cry.

Hiccup picked up his sword and deflected the traps and weapons being thrown at Toothless, while Toothless barked at the bewilderbeast. Above them, the dragons were in a state of chaos and unrest.

 _Vein of Thunder_ returned to Hiccup’s back, and Hiccup drew his Inferno in his left hand, dual-wielding the two blades. Stoick neared on Drago’s other side, and Gobber watched Stoick’s back while Toothless watched Hiccup’s.

Hiccup and Stoick fought Drago with vigour. Countering Drago’s attacks whenever he directed it at the other person. One particular hard strike, however, forced Stoick back, and Hiccup dashed in in front of Stoick to defend him, Hiccup’s two swords poised at shoulder level, with his left-handed Inferno in the front.

“Have you forgotten, Dragon Conqueror? I control the ALPHA!” Hiccup looked up at the bewilderbeast but all he saw was white, one that was enveloping his world. It was the bewilderbeast’s icy breath, directed at them.

 **No! Dad!** Hiccup pushed Stoick down, and shut his eyes. Around them, intense warmth enclosed them. Toothless had rushed in to protect them.

 ** _Down, Hiccup._** His mind echoed. Hiccup held Stoick down and braced himself. Then, Toothless broke them free, making the crystals around them rupture.

He had never seen Toothless like that before… Toothless had glowing blueness within his body from the back of his mouth, to his plates and tail. The plasma waves they emitted were instinctually tuned to the specific frequency, cracking the crystal confinement by sole will alone. Hiccup watched his bondmate, and understood. This was his potential. This was his matured form, and Toothless’ protective instincts over their bond had forced it to surface.

It was unmistakeable, the shift in Toothless countenance as he stood up against the bewilderbeast. Toothless was a matured alpha, furiously protective.

From beyond the mist, another roar met Toothless’ own.

As if taunted, Drago’s bewilderbeast looked away from under Toothless’ stare down, and rose up in competition.

Another bewilderbeast!

 **She’s here** , Hiccup thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cringe cringe XD I think I cried when I wrote this though.


	28. Chapter 28

Hiccup and Toothless had rarely flew so fast. Even on the high-altitude wind system, Toothless was constantly pushing forward faster and faster, and Hiccup tucked his body against Toothless so tightly. In less than four hours, they reached it, the dragon sanctuary.

The crystalline ice structure loomed over frozen lands and Antarctic seas. It blended into the surrounding of similar crystal structures well, but Hiccup knew the way in, knew all the secrets to this place, knew the keeper that kept this place going.

He had Toothless land into a small cavern, the same one he had been brought to the first time he was led here. It was completely dark. Instead of asking Toothless to fire up the place or using Inferno, he walked forward confidently. He had spent months here several times these few years, there was no way he didn’t know the place inside-out and blinded.

“MOM!” Hiccup called, but no response came. “MOM!”

They rushed deeper in, jumping over platforms and squeezing through turns and tunnels, eventually, to another hall sort of cavern. A very large crystal at the back was the main support, and it refracted light into the place hence serving as a light source. Hiccup turned around the back through the right corridor and finally, they came into the light.

“Mom?” Hakru couldn’t find her last time they were here. Hiccup desperately hoped she was back.

It was barely sunrise, and the soft morning sun did nothing to wake the sleeping dragons. Hiccup was met with two dozen baby dragons playing on grassy ground where he came out to. Hiccup could see the multitude of other platforms around the slanted crystal beam that was almost fully covered by greenery. The whole place was warm, likely due to being inhabited by fire-breathing dragons. This cocoon of nature, of harmony and peace, was a forest-like oasis in the midst of frozen lands, serving as a sanctuary to dragons, well-protected and well-guarded.

The adorably innocent babies were happy to see Hiccup here again, and they gurgled and licked Hiccup around.

Coming here again, even Hiccup had to put wars, fightings to the back of his mind. The sense of peace at this place was pervasive. Toothless was yearning, seeking. He turned his head around and left Hiccup’s side, following the scent he knew.

Hiccup noticed Toothless straying, and caught up, while two baby dragons took the position on his head and in his arms.

Toothless searched high and low, and the smell got stronger. Toothless chirped, and they were met with a strong gust of wind, as who they were searching for landed behind them.

Toothless warbled in happiness, and jumped excitedly over to Cloudjumper’s side, like a little youngling seeing its mother. Hiccup laughed gladly at seeing his bond mate so happy. He looked to his side, and felt the same sort of bliss.

“Mom…” Hiccup gasped and ran into the woman he was searching for. She had her arms open for him, and as he hugged her, she returned it with equal fervour. “Darling Hiccup, you’ve grown since I last saw you.” She took a deep breath of Hiccup’s scent, as did Hiccup. Years of being around dragon made them pick up many dragon-like tendencies, and they share the same guilty habits.

“I missed you.” Hiccup whispered into her shoulder.

“I missed you too, son.” Valka leaned back and took a good look at Hiccup. “As handsome as ever. And look at this! Toothless! You’ve gotten closer!” Valka dragged Hiccup over to Toothless and cooed heartily. The closeness between the two best friends was clear as day to her eyes. It had been months since she saw them, and she didn’t remember their souls to have grown so close to each other. “You’ve grown even closer to my son, haven’t you, Toothless?” Valka rubbed Toothless up and down after she finished staring at the duo like a mother appraising her new son-in-law.

Toothless squawked an agreement and purred at the treatment. He curled up around her like a cat, and flashed its eyes between Valka and Cloudjumper expectantly. Hiccup squinted his eyes at them as well.

“Hah hah, yes, yes, so have we.” Valka had been by Cloudjumper’s side for over twenty years. Hiccup and Toothless still had a lot they could discover about themselves.

To Valka, Hiccup looked happy, sure, but he was also deeply troubled. Then she recalled the Alpha’s words. Hiccup had sent someone for her just a while ago, hadn’t he?

“Hiccup, is there something you need to tell me?” Valka placed her hand on Hiccup’s shoulder worriedly. She hadn’t seen her son for months, and she herself had been busy with the trappers lately. They had been laying low, but their forces have grown.

“Mom, there’s something I’ve been doing. I came back almost two months ago, actually. I came back to stop this war.”

“Oh Hiccup. What changed your mind?”

Hiccup lowered his head. His mother, Lankthnu, Barmad and the elder, and even himself knew very well it was his destiny, just like his mother had her role to play against the trappers. They all found their way, and he had known his. For years, he focused on travelling, and hadn’t had that strong urge as he did now, to return and stop the war. When he knew that he was ready, he came back.

“Toothless did.” Toothless sent a questioning look Hiccup’s way.

“I mean, being with Toothless did. It’s the right thing to do, to stop this war. I need to do this. Because I can and I want to. I’m sure now, that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. The thing is, mom, I thought I had time.”

Valka frowned in thought. “What do you mean?”

“It’s the trappers. That Dargo Bloody Fisted guy.”

Valka tensed.

“They have a plan to lure vikings to the Red Death’s nest, and that bewilderbeast they lay their hands on two year back? They are using it to take over the Red Death’s nest and blackmailing the vikings into surrendering. He wants to take over the whole archipelago.”

“Is that why you have been looking for me? I’m sorry, Hiccup, I hadn’t known. Drago’s forces had been growing stronger and I have been trying to break him up for weeks! I was going to look for you, but Cloudjumper already sensed Toothless coming.”

“I didn’t know either. I tried to stop the vikings by striking a deal, if I could convince vikings to befriend dragons within two months, they are to call off the attack on the nest.” With that, Hiccup swallowed before continuing. “Berk volunteered, and I have been there all this time. But it was just a distraction. They were secretly continuing the plan while I’ve been on Berk and now they are on the way to attack the nest already. The trappers will be there. I can’t do this alone, mom.”

Valka wanted to question Hiccup. The Berk she knew wouldn’t want anything to do with a dragon rider, or accepting dragons, but Hiccup was already restless. “Cloudjumper! Let’s go see the alpha! Hiccup, you don’t have to do this alone! We’ll see you at the nest, alright? I’m not going to give Drago the pleasure of besting me, or taking over Barbaric. I’m with you on this.”

Valka gripped Hiccup’s hands and looked into his eyes, then gave Hiccup a warm hug. “Mom. Thank you.” Hiccup hugged back.

“Of course, Hiccup. Take good care of him, Toothless!”

Toothless keened in response, and Hiccup sat atop Toothless.

They had Valka, now they had to rush back. Hopefully, they were not too late.

 

When Valka reached the nest, things looked horrible.

What looks to be over a thousand vikings were scattered over the island, and most of the ships burnt and sunken. However, what she had not expected, was an alpha’s roar. A very specific alpha that was not a bewilderbeast.

It was Toothless, and it stood protecting Hiccup… and Stoick. Shards of fractured crystals were piercing through the ground around the three, and shattered crystals lay around them.

Hiccup had both his brilliant swords in his hand, and Toothless was staring Drago’s bewilderbeast down, glowing all over his body intimidatingly.

She flew in on Cloudjumper in front of the Alpha, and she met Hiccup’s relieved eyes. Between them and the bewilderbeast, stood Drago Bludvist, staring at her in hatred.

Valka stood up on Cloudjumper. The Alpha backed her, and he roared in anger, at seeing the bloodshed on that beach. The carcass of the Red Death lay in shallow waters. Several dragons were guarding their unmoving riders sadly.

“YOU!!” Valka screamed in anger, matching that of the Alpha. Toothless returned the call from the ground, beside her son.

“Mom,” Hiccup gasped. Under her shell-like suit, she led the Alpha into the scene.

“What?” Stoick questioned. Hiccup shook his head, and shrugged. “The Dragon Thief.”

Hiccup didn’t see Stoick’s frown, and he and Toothless advanced on Drago while Valka and the Alpha advanced on the bewilderbeast. Several roars from the angered alphas on scene tempted him to echo with his own, but Hiccup help back.

“Retreat, Drago. You lost your advantage.” Hiccup wasn’t expecting him to give up, despite what he said. Drago Bludvist was a madman, Stoick mentioned, and Hiccup agreed. Today, their long feud was going to end.

Drago laughed sinisterly. His previous shock and anger gave way to renewed determination. “The Dragon Thief and her O’Great Alpha! Now we have a fight!” Drago swung his staff, urging his bewilderbeast forth, and Hiccup saw Valka shook her staff, no doubt communicating to the Alpha. Finally, the Alpha roared, and they two bewilderbeasts charged. The dragons stayed waiting around the island, the control spells broken but their submissive stance before alphas forced them to stay down, waiting for the victor of the fight to take over leadership.

Cloudjumper let Valka down on the opposite of Hiccup and Stoick, and the two dragon riders looked to be double teaming against Drago. From that distance away, the vikings watched in disbelief. The Dragon Thief was an animalistic and feral person, moving in a half-crouch as if the person was half-dragon. The masked vigilante’s staff was raised behind, its end giving rustling noises as the person moved. Unlike the Dragon Thief, Hiccup stood straighter, but slightly bent over, with his two blades by his side. Hiccup’s face was locked in a fierce frown. His prosthetic was completely silent, and Hiccup’s movements were smooth, balanced. As Inferno’s fire flickered and dimmed, Hiccup unclicked a compartment and an empty canister dropped out. Hiccup retrieved one filled canister from its place attached on Hiccup’s side, and inserted it into Inferno. The whole movement was smooth and fast, completed in one quick series of movements.

Drago stood between them, disgruntlement on his face. He raised his spear, and charged towards the Dragon Thief.

The Dragon Thief was quick and light, immediately backing up and swinging his own staff at Drago’s face, while Hiccup swung his at Drago’s legs. Drago blocked both attacks, but had to take several steps back in retreat. Hiccup fought lightning-fast while dual-wielding. Stoick hadn’t been able to see before, but now, he was beyond impressed. It was rare, and left-handers were generally not accepted and were forced to learn to fight using their right hands. Stoick must be the only person, except for Gobber, that remembered Hiccup was a born left hander. He just never expected being forced to use his right hand since young made Hiccup equally proficient in using both hands.

Hiccup spun and flipped constantly, displaying the agility and flexibility that he hadn’t shown when fighting Astrid. With two hands, Hiccup stood in front of Drago, left-handed Inferno perpendicular to and outside of Drago’s right hand, held pointing to the ground. Hiccup’s right-handed Spatha was held on the opposite side of Drago’s hand, pointing to the sky. Together, he pulled back the blades from Drago’s forearm down his weapon-wielding hand and Drago was forced to let go of his spear. On the other side, Valka delivered a hard hit to Drago’s jaw using the end of her staff. They were teaming well against Drago, but their Alpha gave a particularly pained yell.

Drago’s bewilderbeast had its jaws clenched over the Alpha’s tusk, pulling the Alpha off balance. Before the bewilderbeast could attack the downed Alpha with its tusks, Toothless who was just fighting off trappers from dragons and vikings with Cloudjumper growled loudly.

“Hiccup, go!” The Dragon Thief urged.

Hiccup’s eyes met Toothless’, and Toothless flew over to Hiccup. Together, they joined the fight against the bewilderbeasts. Toothless dive in between the downed Alpha and the attacking bewilderbeast and shot a particularly strong plasma blast at it. The vikings had never seen anything like it, but Stoick had. That night at sea, against the skrill.

Hiccup and Toothless maneuverer at the speed of lightning, over the dark clouds that loomed over them, and around the tall rock formations that jutted out of the sea. In one climb, Hiccup and Toothless darted up into the clouds, drawing the bewilderbeast up, and it was met with an erupting plasma blast downwards from the diving duo, beating it back down to the ground.

Drago full-bodily tackled the Dragon Thief, throwing him to the ground. His mask was loose, and it rolled on the pebble ground.

Drago was enraged. He called for a dragon and flew over to his beaten bewilderbeast. “Get up! GET UP!”

The bewilderbeast righted itself, and Drago took his position on its head. “Take control of the dragons! Do it!”

Slowly, the dragons started thrashing and howling, but it was no use. They slowly gathered behind Drago’s bewilderbeast. While the Alpha tried to take the control from his challenger, many dragons had started to fire at him.

 **No!** Valka watched in pain as her Alpha was hurt. He couldn’t shoot his icy breath, not he risked hurting all the other dragons behind the bewilderbeast that was controlling the others.

Hiccup watched the scene from the sky, mouth agape and fearful.

**Toothless…**

It was then that Hiccup felt a strong emotion from within Toothless. Hiccup let that wash over him, and felt the love for the Alpha that Toothless had and his courage. Toothless looked back at Hiccup sadly. **_Hiccup, I’ll put you down over-_**

**No, Toothless. Whatever you’re going to do, no matter the cost, we do it together.**

Hiccup laid his hand calmly on Toothless’ head. **Together. I believe in you.** Through their bond, Hiccup communicated his feelings of love and confidence towards his bonded dragon. They have been through so much. Whatever Toothless thought was worth a try, he was all for it.

Toothless let out a long bark at Drago’s bewilderbeast as he landed on the ground facing the two alphas locked in battle. He shot another plasma blast towards the bewilderbeast, and it countered with its own icy breath. Toothless resettled itself on the crystal shards, and narrowed its eyes.

The blue glow from within Toothless’ body returned, and Toothless did it. He challenged the bad alpha.

Hiccup felt Toothless’ force through their bond, the same force that was fighting to break through the bewilderbeast’s control of the other dragons and free them. Closing his eyes, Hiccup supported Toothless, and his hand reached to the bow that was secured on Toothless. He clutched at it firmly, and Hiccup let himself draw as much strength as he could from _Vein of Thunder_.

They had to win. The bewilderbeast had beaten their Alpha. If Toothless failed, the bewilderbeast will take over as the new Alpha and the dragons would loyally bow down to him.

Hiccup felt a sharp pain rip through him from his right hand, up from the bow. But instead of retreating, Hiccup drew even more strength from it. Thor wanted the war to be over? Fucking fine! Then don’t blame Hiccup for milking him dry!

It was another few seconds. Then Toothless did it. He broke through. The dragons were no longer under the bewilderbeast’ spell under Toothless’ powering presence. Toothless gave a loud roar for the dragons to stay back.

The Alpha gave a strong strike to the weakened bewilderbeast, breaking its left tusk, the same tusk that still had the Red Death’s blood over it. In another strike to its body, the bewilderbeast fell for the last time. Scared and injured, the bewilderbeast backed hastily under the strong, punishing gaze of the Alpha. From beside the Alpha, the nightfury hissed viciously at it, and the bewilderbeast retreated.

Hiccup nudged Toothless forward. They darted out to grab onto Drago before as the bewilderbeast dove into the water, and dropped Drago in front of Valka and the vikings. The Berkians and vikings at the edge of the crowd subdued the trappers that had fought at Drago’s command, and they were either tied up, or left kneeling at knifepoint.

The Alpha shouted to Valka, and she looked back at it thankfully. The dragons on the island looked on wearily and hesitantly, unsure of whether to follow nightfury or the alpha bewilderbeast. Realising that the dragons were waiting for his response, Toothless looked uncomfortable, and he turned to Hiccup for direction, and also, feeling how strained Hiccup was. Toothless steeled himself to respond. He crawled forward and looked to their King sheepishly, then barked while gesturing to their King.

The Alpha crooned at Toothless, and let out a relaxed warble, turning back to the ocean.

Those who want would follow it back to the dragon sanctuary could. The rest were free now. From the Red Death. From any ruler, free to find family or make their own…

Astrid cried when Stormfly finally landed and trotted towards her, as rest of the bonded dragons also returned.

Leaning heavily against Toothless, Hiccup was hit by dizziness. Valka supported him up, and brushed her fingers through his hair. “Son…”

Stoick hadn’t taken his eyes off the Dragon Thief since the battle had ended. When she turned around to face vikings with Hiccup’s arm draped over her shoulder, Stoick choked. So did Gobber.

“Valka?” Stoick asked hesitantly. Valka clenched her hands around Hiccup tighter, avoiding Stoick’s eyes guiltily.

“Oh boy.” Gobber supplied. Hiccup rolled his eyes, not looking as weak as he should be. “Can we do this reunion thing some other time? Dad? Not a good timing.”

Hiccup was looking at the mass of vikings that they had to both feed and deliver home, and didn’t realise what calling Stoick ‘Dad’ did to him. The title was like a punch to his gut.

Could he really…? Could he really have his family back again, after everything he’d done? Pushing Hiccup away, not listening to him, not accepting him, pushing all the blame on him by exiling his fifteen year old son.

Hiccup hadn’t heard him, of course. Neither did Valka. Valka released Hiccup in front of Stoick, and Hiccup awkwardly let himself be supported by Stoick while Valka walked to Drago. Hiccup pushed himself from Stoick and ignited Inferno again, ready to intercept if Drago even so much as hurt Valka.

Stoick eyed the protectiveness Hiccup had over Valka, as well as Toothless, and this one other dragon that appeared…familiar. Then the scene from his memory returned with stunning detail. It was the dragon that had taken Valka!

“Well, look at this. The Dragon Thief? The Dragon Conqueror? Mother and son! I should’ve figured, given how many times we had fought, shouldn’t I?” Valka, in a flash, swung her staff at Drago’s metal encased shoulder, dislocating the whole contraption from his body, revealing the stump of what was supposed to be his left shoulder. Sometime between picking Drago up from the bewilderbeast’s back, Drago had lost his spear, and he now stood unarmed in front of Valka.

“You are a menace to dragons!”

“Me? You think I am a menace to dragons? Take a good look at who you’re protecting, Drgaon Thief! Every single one of the men standing behind you have taken more dragons lives than I have, _including_ the Dragon Conqueror!”

Drago produced a dagger from behind him.

Valka pointed her staff closer at Drago. “This is it, Drago Bludvist. You won’t get to terrorise dragons ever again.” Valka pulled her staff back to swing it at Drago’s head, and Toothless saw the dagger before anyone else.

**Hiccup!**

In panic, Hiccup used his foot to kick up an axe left on the ground at his feet, and threw it cleanly at Drago’s throat.

He didn’t miss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to you guys awwww I can't believe there's still people reading. You guys really kicked my ass into gear hahahaha. Been a long time but here's a chapter! Don't worry there's actually only 1 chapter left sad hahaha I'll take a last look before posting!
> 
> Siljaros94  
> Rapture38   
> Bondolas  
> Molletay000  
> teamsharoncarter (DirectorOfShield)   
> JellyBean385  
> author_barnard
> 
> I can't believe after so many years I finally have inspiration for a sequel but I doubt I'm gonna get around to it. Nevertheless, it's still fun to see it in my mind lol. Don't know if it's just me but I always feel like endings can be so cringy! I thought of making things abit more greyer just to balance out the cringe but nah. I'll stay true to my vision when I wrote this :] Glad there's people that honestly enjoyed this and liked the movie as much as I did. I remember crawling through the archive in search of good and long and feely fics that do Hiccup justice. Sad to say I didn't do a lot of the other characters justice tho


	29. Chapter 29

They were among the last batches to sail.

They had managed to salvage a few ships still useable, to send just a small group of people home first. People wouldn’t dare to ride on dragons, not yet, so by ship was the only way. Hiccup’s first priority was his friends. They had only passed out and none of them were injured fatally. The worst was probably a fractured arm and broken leg.

Valka, however, was kept busy calming down the dragons that have stayed behind. For many of these dragons, the Red Death’s nest was the only thing they’d ever known, having been enslaved for generations. Valka treated them, had Cloudjumper communicate with them, and tried her best to find a place for them.

For the vikings trapped on the island, they quickly started to look for food and water, making temporary camps with what they had salvaged from the ships. While messages were delivered for their individual tribes to send ships over, it will take minimally a week for the whole island to clear out, as some were from faraway tribes. Most of Berk volunteered to stay behind, and it was mostly the newly-bonded riders and those that were present for the Bonehead wedding that stayed.

Hiccup had slept through two days straight initially, and spent the rest of the days fishing for their dear dragons and the vikings. The nest was empty of any sort of live animals, of course, and there was little vegetation. Obviously it was going to be difficult to feed such a large population.

Rather than Bonehead, the Hairy Hooligans was the tribe that earned even more respect from the other vikings. Already one of the strongest and most honourable tribe, the incident made Berk the leader the rest looked to for directions.

Even though Stoick and many of the Berkians could see Hiccup and Valka day in, day out, Stoick found it hard to speak to them privately. For most days, Hiccup and Valka would leave together and return together, not even staying with them during the night, and no one knew where they slept. He watched the two from a distance, heart stabbed as he realised they were familiar and close, and had probably been in contact for some time. The few times Valka met his eyes, she already turned away.

On the last day on the island, only Berk remained and several Boneheads with them. Everyone had agreed that Chief Furlan should be left to his own tribe to be dealt with, but through letters, the Bonehead asked for Stoick to ‘do what is right’ with the few. The most of Bonehead had no idea what their Chief had been up to. Chief Furlan really dragged their name down the drain, and they wanted no more of him than they already had.

They had loaded up the ship in the late evening, and set sail for Berk. They weren’t aware it was only because Hiccup asked her to sail back with them that she stayed.

To Hiccup, he just thought that Stoick and Valka needed to talk things through. Whether or not they were together again, they deserved at least closure. Admittedly, he hadn’t thought this far when he asked Valka for help. Hiccup didn’t think he could return to Berk again if he was asked, but Stoick…

Hiccup was sure that as a son, he still loved Stoick. When the bewilderbeast breathed at Stoick, all he could think of was he had to protect his father. But to be his son again, Hiccup wasn’t confident. To love Stoick and to be Stoick’s son again were two different things.

On the ship, Toothless and Cloudjumper stayed in the lowest cabin. Unsurprisingly, Hiccup and Valka ended up coming down the trapdoor to sleep with their dragon. As they lifted the trapdoor, Stoick coughed from his place on deck.

“Er… Valka” _Cough._ “Can I speak to you for a minute?”

“Right, yeah! I’ll erm, just, I’ll be down here. Good night.” Hiccup couldn’t have been more awkward. Valka chuckled a bit at Hiccup’s antics, then sighed heavily. She walked to Stoick’s side, and waited for him. But when he didn’t seem to know how to start, she spoke her mind.

“I know what you’re going to say, Stoick. How could I have done this? Stayed away all these years. And why didn't I come back to you? To our son.”

Valka faced the horizon, wind blowing through her hair. Even the tough armour didn’t hide the pain in her features. Her eyes clenched before they levelled back at Stoick again. “Well, what sign did I have that you could change, Stoick? That anyone on Berk could? I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting, to find another answer… but did any of you listen? I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone... but I thought he’d be better off without me.” Valka gritted her teeth in guilt. “And I was wrong, I see that now, but… oh stop being so stoic, Stoick! Go on... SHOUT, SCREAM, SAY SOMETHING!” Valka looked at Stoick tearfully, her frustration plain on her features.

But Stoick only saw the only woman he had ever wanted to spend his whole life protecting.

“You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.”

Valka teared, and she started to sob. She threw herself at Stoick, and felt an embrace she hadn’t felt for twenty years, asking herself how had she survived all these years away from the man she loved?

“I haven’t asked you this, but-” Stoick started.

“Because you are too timid to approach me, Stoick.” Valka interrupted.

“Come home with me. You don’t have to stay, but just come home with me, Valka. Let me show you. Then you can decide.” Stoick managed to finish, in spite of Valka’s playful interruption. “Give me a chance to redeem myself, Val. I want us to be a family again.”

“Oh, Stoick…” Valka nodded and she smiled to Stoick.

 Stoick was glad, then his expression turned contemplative. “I’ve wanted to ask this… How did you meet Hiccup?”

 “I met him about four years ago. If I’m not wrong, his name started to spread around that time,” Stoick nodded.

 “And it was also when Drago started hunting for him and Toothless, possibly the last nightfury. In his run from Drago, I found him and brought him to the dragon sanctuary. It’s the home for dragons anywhere, and their king is the Alpha. That was how we met. I didn’t know who he was then.” Valka lightly laughed, but there was pride in her eyes.

 “I could never imagine, that my own son, raised on Berk, would take after me so much. He found his own way, Stoick! I wasn’t there at all, his first words, his first step. Then, after eighteen years, I found a young man so strong, so brave! He was so fearless, standing by himself amongst a group of dragons and he calmed them with these- tools he made himself! He gained the trust of one of the most solitude species around! He could fly! And I just… I wish I could have been there for him… Especially when he told me what he had been through…”

 Immense guilt laced Stoick’s voice. “I’m sorry, Valka. I failed you. I failed Hiccup. I was never there for him, and I even ordered his exile. I’m so, so sorry.”

 “I know you are, Stoick. I watched him grow these past four years, you know. Things turned out the best for him, and I wouldn’t have had these times with him if things didn’t happen the way they did. Our son is amazing, Stoick. I don’t know how you never saw that.” Valka breathed out.

 

 Eymid stood at the port in the chilly morning, waiting for Astrid to come home. She had heard a lot from the others, but the only thing she cared about was that Astrid was home safe. As the ship docked, Stoick was the first to come down, leading chained men that she assumed would be those from Bonehead.

 Astrid her friends came next. They wore tired, but relieved faces. They were finally home with their family. Then the next person that she saw was the second person she had been waiting expectantly for. “Valka…”

 Eymid ran up to her old friend and hugged, not at all bothered by the odd suit she had on.

 “Eymid!” Valka took a good look at her friend. “I heard everything from Hiccup, are you well?” Valka laid her hands over Eymid’s shoulders, itching to feel the strength in her muscles as confirmation.

“Yes, of course. Thanks to Hiccup.”

From the ship, Toothless crawled after Hiccup, and another dragon after him. The two dragons were playing, soft nudges against each other and they yipped playfully.

“Valka, Hiccup,” Stoick held out his hand. “Let me show you our home.”

Valka needed a breath in her lungs before she had the strength to nod. Valka allowed Stoick to lead her on, but Hiccup was more distant to his father’s attention. Hiccup averted his eyes, shrugging, when his father patted his on his back. But despite the tentative responses, they followed behind Stoick.

**Just a visit. A short one.**

_Cold feet?_

**Hah hah.**

In Stoick’s eyes, the house at the top of their hills bled loneliness and inattention. As he led his wife and son up the hill, away from the rush and uproars at the dock, he realised that was the first time in decades that he put his family above the tribe.

At the foot of the hill, the Hooligan tribesmen slowed their activities, and watched their lonely chief finally get another shot at being a husband and a father. Everything had started going wrong after Valka disappeared, but now, after eighteen years, the universe shifted and Stoick had his family by his side again.

Moving forward, the Berkians already knew their minds were about to be changed. In fact, they already were. Dragons were truly, not what they grew up seeing and believing to be. They could understand that fact now. But it also made them realise that these creatures that followed them home were more alien than before. After 300 years, they still know nothing of these creatures, more than what they could do in raids. And now, some of these Berkians actually want to learn.

They might not be the brightest bunch, but in that moment, there was no doubt.

Now was the time to Stoick to rebuild his family, and now was the time for their generation to rewrite Berkian history.


End file.
